Nigeria acquires land for 2000MW solar power plant based on Moroccan model
Nigeria has acquired a huge tract of land in Jigawa state where it would site a massive solar power plant using the Moroccan model.
Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria’s minister of Power, Works and Housing, disclosed this on February 24 during a presentation at the 2017 BusinessDay National Economic Outlook conference held at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island.
“We are in the stage of conceptualisation of a massive, close to 2000 MW solar power capacity – subject to design – in Jigawa sate,” he announced.
Fashola further said, “My intention is to model it after the Moroccan experience in Marakesh because then it allows many more people to come and play.”
“I just got the land allocation last week and my team has started working on it so that we can develop it quickly,” the minister said.
At Noor, Morocco’s southern desert town of Ouarzazate, the country has installed curved mirrors totalling 1.5 million square meters (16 million square feet) – the size of about 200 soccer pitches – capture the sun’s heat.
The first phase of the giant Noor solar complex was opened by the king in February this year.
Rather than use PV (photovoltaic) solar panels, the tiny roof-top solar panels to bring power to remote rural homes, Noor uses CSP (concentrated solar power) technology – giant mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays on to tubes containing liquid which is super-heated to drive turbines.
CSP offers storage of electricity for up to three hours after the sun has set, which covers peak demand times.
Morocco targets 52% of its electricity from clean energy such as wind and solar by 2030, up from 28% capacity it currently has.
Once completed, Noor will cost 2.2 billion euros ($2.45 billion) and generate 580 MW, enough power for a city of almost 2 million people. Morocco aims to expand at other desert regions to 2 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2020 at a cost of $9 billion.
Fashola in the course of his presentation said information regarding the progress of projects will continually be provided to Nigerians.
It is not yet clear how Nigeria will fund such a massive project close to the scale of Morocco. The 2017 budget provisions for the Power, Works and Housing ministry are only N529bn.
This opens up the option of funding the project through public private partnerships, a scheme the government has endorsed for some projects.
Incremental power policy of the administration is gaining traction as hitherto abandoned power plants and projects have been brought on stream. The recent being the 10MW wind farm in Kaduna conceived during the last administration but was not completed
“This just to demonstrate that our eyes are on all balls, our country is not too far if it is far from our competitors and what the real challenge will be in ramping up capacities.
Fashola assured Nigerians that the 700MW Zungeru power plant will likely come on stream late 2018 or very early 2019 after legal entanglements have been removed.
ISAAC ANYAOGU