How Soremekun’s Rubitec Solar is helping to light up Kwara
Since forming Rubitec Solar in 2004, the company has been heavily involved in renewable energy projects in the country mostly through government contracts. Since solar has gain limited traction in the country, government agencies award the most contracts for solar projects.
Soremekun said the trend is changing, “Today things have changed, solar is a fast growing business, between today and last year, we have more than doubled our business,” he said.
“We believe that a lot of people have increased their knowledge of solar. We did a lot of partnerships with the likes of GIZ, a German agency, Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) programme and others and they give us a lot of increased ability, knowledge and skills which has yielded a lot of results including an ability to build mini grids.”
His willingness to allow his people develop their potentials regardless of whether they will remain in his employ or not, gave them opportunities to benefit from trainings both local and international. It has borne fruit, as some of these staff returned and are now responsible for driving the company’s micro grid projects.
The company’s project profile is expanding. “Right now we are in the process of installing an 85kw mini grid in a village called Gbamo Gbamo in Ogun state with a population of about 3,300 people for about 550 households. We hope to complete installation by October and commission it by November.”
Rubitec Solar along with Riccofortezza Steven Energy Limited secured a contract for the implementation of operation Light-Up Kwara (LUK), an innovative solar-powered streetlight project by the Kwara State Government.
The streetlights will be powered through solar power tunnels, the first of its kind in Nigeria. The project is billed to cover 74.58km of roads, cutting across 33 routes within Ilorin metropolis. Rubitec Solar said it is providing solar panels on over 850 poles with a capacity to generate about 500kW.
“This project is conceived quite differently from what obtains in Lagos. Fashola used street lights, and the contracts were executed poorly fuelling a negative perception about solar. When you have poor quality materials and poor quality technicians, the result will be poor quality work. Akinwunmi Ambode came in and decided not to use solar because of the experience and turned to fossil fuel.”
But this comes at a cost to the state. “Lagos is a city that has been doing conferences talking about sustainability, climate change but has reverted to using generators to power street lights. Lagos is lighted but is using diesel, which is not a clean fuel source,”
Soremekun said the Kwara State model was more effective and sustainable. “What we are doing is a public private partnership whereby we put down money and equity in the project and we sign a ten year agreement which encompasses installation, commissioning, and maintenance for the period.
“If battery or bulbs fail, we have to change it, if anything goes wrong, it is our duty to fix it, we will be given quarterly payments based on meeting agreed deliverables. We receive payments as long as the lights are on. So that is an incentive for us, it is in our hands to make sure Ilorin is lighted,” said Soremekun.
The company said it had already completed 10km of street lights and plans to complete the first phase of the project in October.
Soremekun’s face lights up when he describes the impact of the project in the communities they have been installed. He showed videos on his mobile phone that depict brightly lit street lights at night which has changed the dynamics of the communities.
“As a result of the street lights, the lives of the people have been impacted. People are happy; they are trading more as they have extended their length of stay in the markets to 8 and 9 pm rather than leaving at the first hint of darkness. It will be nice for other state governments to adopt this model,” said Soremekun.
ISAAC ANYAOGU