Reaching disadvantaged Nigerians through METKA Off grid technology
Rural electrification has remained a hard nut to crack and Nigerians living in these environments have been deprived of the benefits that electricity offers. To correct this anomaly through off-grid technology a contractual agreement has been signed with METKA Power West Africa. Olusola Bello examines government’s aims and objectives.
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is dedicated to increasing electricity access to rural and under served communities in Nigeria, and it supports off-grid development mainly through the deployment of Solar Home Systems and Mini-grids.
As part of the ‘Energising Education’ programme of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the REA is seeking to develop off-grid Independent Power Plant (“IPP”) projects for the generation and provision of adequate power supply to thirty seven (37) federal universities and seven (7) university teaching hospitals across the country.
In April 2018, METKA Power West Africa, a subsidiary of MYTILINEOS S.A., leading international EPC contractor and industrial manufacturing group, signed an agreement with the Federal Government for the first phase of the Energizing Education programme, which is to help nine (9) federal universities and teaching hospitals get off the national grid and generate their power independently either through gas or solar sources.
Under the agreement, METKA will provide full EPC services for power generation plants, street lighting and training centres, as well as operation and maintenance services, for four (4) universities. All four universities will be powered by hybrid power plants utilising renewable energy sources integrated with energy storage and diesel generation as backup.
While commenting on the partnership agreement, Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director of REA noted, “The benefits of the Energizing Education Programme are immeasurable, as improving the quality of education and ensuring safe and conducive learning environments, through access to reliable power, training centres and streetlights, would result in the churning out of excellent graduates, thus the multiplier effect on all facets of society. We are looking forward to this objective being realized through our strategic partnership with METKA Power West Africa.”
In his response, Vangelis Kamaris, chief executive officer of METKA Power West Africa stated: “We are very pleased to be able to support REA in the Energizing Education initiative, and we are committed to supporting the energy needs of Nigeria and its people. In total, 7.5MW of off-grid hybrid power will be installed, incorporating the EXERON technology – the most advanced hybrid off-grid system.”
Hybrid energy systems support power grids that combine one or more sources of power generation – solar, wind, diesel generator and grid – with battery storage to deliver a consistent level of electricity and/or store unused energy in a battery or future use. The rapidly decreasing costs of renewable and battery storage have made hybrid power systems more affordable than diesel-based generation in most places around the world. Recently the company formally launched EXERON in Nigeria.
During the launching, Vangelis Kamaris noted that with the scalable capacity from 2kW to 65MW, EXERON is designed to derive optimum efficiency from all energy options. The EXERON technology can offer power independence for areas with limited access to the grid or bad grid connection, while providing significant cost savings. It is an efficient solution suitable for a wide range of applications, including residential, industrial, oil and gas, telecoms, defense and security.”
“The award-winning technology features stringent modular design, easy-to-maintain hot plug technology, advanced battery management as well as the increased availability, thanks to excellent system redundancy.”
Kamaris assured that the EXERON range of off-grid power systems, developed and manufactured by IPS (International Power Supply) fulfils all the necessary requirements for effective energy management, communications and modularity, creating an optimal solution for off-grid locations.
EXERON is designed to generate, store and provide power for remote and rural areas. The system can be installed indoors or outdoors. It is also perfectly suited to locations with limited or bad grid power. It can secure continuous uninterruptible power and operates also as an UPS system.
The power system achieves significant electricity bill reduction; a backup power capacity for the unusual case of power outage; the best protection for the connected loads is guaranteed since the EXERON output is galvanically isolated and supplies pure sine wave voltage.
The aim of federal government’s Off Grid Electrification Strategy is to provide access to clean and sustainable electricity to millions of Nigerians.
The objectives are as follows:
To develop a data driven off grid model for Nigeria that will become an exemplar for Sub Saharan Africa; utilise the funding from the Nigerian Electrification Project (NEP) as a catalyst to scale up rapid implementation of off- grid solutions across Nigeria and to increase gender Inclusion in the Nigerian power sector.
It is also intended to be used to promote the use of a decentralised, multi-demographic approach to power infrastructure delivery; to develop 10,000 mini grids by 2023 which will provide power to 14% of the population; increase economic growth in critical sectors such as Agriculture.
Another important and strategic objective of the government in respect of the off grid scheme provide reliable power supply for 250,000 Small and medium enterprises (SMEs); to provide uninterrupted power supply in Federal Universities and University Teaching Hospitals and deploy five million solar standalone systems for residential and SMEs by 2023; it is also intended to supports the FGN’s climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Commenting recently on the off grid scheme of the federal government, Anita Otubu, head of Special Projects, Rural Electrification Agency (REA) noted: “Our sole mission at the REA is to provide access to reliable electric power supply for rural dwellers, and the launch of EXERON in Nigeria is a welcome development as it would contribute significantly to the realization of our objectives.”
Off-grid applications represent a quickly growing segment of the global power solutions market, and Nigeria is no exception. To this end, the federal government instituted the Rural Electrification Fund (REF) to enable more private sector participation in power projects such as grid extension, interconnected mini-grid, isolated mini-grid, isolated micro/nano grids and stand-alone systems. A minimum of $10,000 (N3.5m) and maximum of $300,000 (N106m), or 75 per cent of the total project cost, whichever was less, could be given as grant.
The world Bank investment in Nigeria’s off grid electricity market is one of the banks largest ever $350 million leveraging on expected $1 billion investment.
Under this arrangement there is $150 million for mini off grid, a $300 million opportunity for private investors