TheCable

The federal government and Sun Africa LLC, a US firm that specialises in supplying off-grid solutions in Africa, have signed a deal on 5000MW of solar power generation for Nigerian communities. 

The Nigerian government said the deal was signed on Wednesday at the US-Africa Business Forum in Washington.

The project, meant to serve at least 360 rural communities, will be constructed in different phases across the six geopolitical zones.

“FG and Sun Africa LLC signed a development and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) implementation framework agreement for the construction of 5,000 MW of solar generation & 2,500 MWh of battery energy storage power plants for up to $10bn investment from the US government,” the federal government said in a statement.

“The project will be constructed in different phases across the six geopolitical zones and will provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to more than 30 million people.”

In an earlier statement, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, said President Muhammadu Buhari, in an address during the US-Africa summit, sought the US’ support towards expanding renewable energy access in Nigeria.

“As part of the national renewable energy and energy efficiency policy, we set the vision 30:30:30 which aims at achieving 30GW of electricity by 2030, with renewable energy contributing 30 percent of the energy mix,” Buhari was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the deal between Nigeria and Sun Africa LLC is expected to “ensure the broadest and most comprehensive approach to access electricity”.

The first phase of the project is scheduled to kick off in the first quarter of 2023 and will reach Nigerian communities in the federal capital territory (FCT), Gombe, Nasarawa, Kogi, Edo, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Jigawa, Benue, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kano, Kwara, and Anambra.

“All the technical and financial due diligence activities for phase 1 of the project have been completed for the first five selected locations for the grid-connected solar projects of up to 961 MWp of solar and 455 MWh of battery energy storage,” the statement reads.

“Subsequently, ING Bank, US EXIM Bank, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and the Debt Management Office have concluded all the financial negotiations and are closing the financing terms for up to $2 billion”.