By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had set a target to generate a minimum of 2,000MW of electricity from renewables in 2020.
The Commission which announced this last year June, guaranteed price and access to grid as well as feed-in tariff for solar, wind, biomass and small hydro.
Apart from the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) based on plant life cycle of 20 years, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are mandated to procure minimum of 1000MW (50 per cent of the total projected renewable sourced electricity.
In line with the National Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, NERC started off its target by approving three windows for grid connected renewable energy projects such as net-metering for very small capacities (typically below 1MW), feed-in tariff for capacities up to 5MW of solar, 10MW of wind, 10MW of biomass and 30MW of small hydro.
The Commission stated on its website recently that Nigeria has an abundance of various renewable energy resources of which solar, wind, biomass and small hydro power (SHP) are the most ubiquitous.
It highlighted major things to be achieved which include, Guaranteed price & access to grid, Feed-In – Tariff for Solar, Wind, Biomass & Small Hydro, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) based on plant life cycle of 20 years and Electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to procure minimum of 1000MW (50 per cent of the total projected renewable sourced electricity).
In assessing the progress recorded so far in achieving its 2020 target, NatureNews had reported that the Commission in a statement stated that 1,092,399 customers have been metered by electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the Meter Assets Provider (MAP) scheme and the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
The Commission said earlier in July 2021, said that 508,439 customers have been metered so far under the MAP scheme of the Federal Government which was flagged off on Oct. 30, 2020 with a target of six million meters by 2023.
The regulatory agency said 583,960 meters had been distributed under the MAP scheme, adding that 5,855 customers who had paid for prepaid meters were yet to get their meters.
Also, last year September, the federal government defended the choice of German firm, Siemens AG, for its 25,000 megawatts grid expansion.
It stated that the German firm was chosen to expand Nigeria’s power grid because the company was best qualified to rehabilitate the dilapidated electricity infrastructure in Nigeria.
The minister added, “It will open up corridors for evacuation that will greatly reduce the burden of delivered capacity, which is costing the sector so much.
“Investors will be more confident to participate in the sector as the grid achieves more functional operational capacity. This will also reduce financing cost in the evacuation process.”
Speaking on the timeline to complete the project, Mamman said it would be for five years, as implementation would take place in three phases, which, according to him, had already commenced.
Huawei also launched its Next-Generation Mini Grid “iPowerCube-S” solution in April to provide reliable, green, affordable power supply for people’s livelihoods and production in areas without main power connection or unstable power supply.
The iPowerCube-S is a distributed power solution that integrates solar, grid, diesel generator and battery storage. It features one-stop delivery, fast deployment, and optimal LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity).
According to ESI Africa, which assessed the commercial performance, stated that the financial viability and commercial performance of the industry continued to be a major challenge albeit a slight improvement in 2020/Q2.
During the quarter under review, the total billing to and collection from electricity consumers by all the eleven (11) DISCOs stood at ₦164.07 billion ($430 million) and ₦121.61 billion ($317 million) respectively.
Although there was a slight improvement during the quarter, the huge metering gap for end-use customers remains a key challenge in the industry.
The records of the Commission indicate that, of the 10,516,090 registered electricity customers as at 30 June 2020, only 4,234,759 (40.27%) have been metered. Thus, 59.73% of the registered electricity customers are still on estimated billing which has contributed to customer apathy towards payment for electricity bills.
In comparison with the first quarter of 2020, the numbers of registered and metered customers increased slightly by 0.36% and 0.07% respectively.
The increase in registered customers was, in addition to new connection, due largely to the on-going customer enumeration exercise by DISCOs through which unregistered consumers of electricity were brought into the DISCOs’ billing platform.
Similarly, the increase in metered customers was attributed to the roll-out of meters under the MAP scheme.