The Nigerian government has developed the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy with the accompanying Vision 30:30:30 which aims at achieving 30,000MW of electricity by the year 2030 with renewable energy contributing 30 per cent of the energy mix.
It is a welcome target that will see Nigeria undergo a renewable energy transformation. However, there are certain strategies that the government must adopt if the renewable energy part of this wonderful vision must become a reality.
Firstly, the government should be able to leverage on community partnerships and ownership of renewable energy projects. Solar energy projects for instance usually need minor cleaning a couple of times in a year if the installation is to work at largest capacity. This periodic cleaning will not cost the host community anything to carry out.
However, the community will only organise adequately for the cleaning if they have a sense of ownership of the project. Apart from cleaning, they are other minor maintenance activities of renewable energy projects that the host community should not leave for the government alone.
Majority of the solar streetlights and solar boreholes across the federation today are not functional because thieves and vandals have made away with certain vital components of the installations. These thieves and vandals did not fall from space.
