NAN-HE-12
Solar
By Kingsley Okoye
Abuja, Feb. 3, 2017(NAN) The Federal Government will construct more solar and renewable energy technology plants in the country to improve electricity generation, an official of Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, has said.
The Director, Renewable Energy in the ministry, Mr Abayomi Adebisi, made the plan known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
The Japanese Government in conjunction with the Federal Government successfully constructed a 1.2 clean energy solar plant at Lower Usuma Dam in Bwari, Federal Capital Territory to improve electricity generation for the National Grid.
“That is why we agreed in the first instance that this project should be done.
“Many people are sceptical and they are always saying that solar power is costly, renewable energy is costly, renewable energy is not doable.
“But then with one megawatt that we have done in the Lower Usuma Dam it can be replicated in rural areas.
Adebisi said that the completion of the solar plant was one of the gains of the privatisation of the power sector.
He said more renewable energy solar plants could be replicated in various communities.
He said that the construction of the solar plant in Lower Usuma Dam had resulted to steady power supply to residents of the area.
“Of course they can tell you that the power supply around this area is very stable much more stable than it was before.
Adebisi said that the excess of the power from the plant would trickle down to nearby communities.
He said that government would provide the enabling environment for interested private investors in solar technologies, especially in the rural communities.
He said that efforts were being made to provide a smart metering to regulate electricity generation and supply from the solar plant.
“ There is this smart metering that we have to put in place then we will now be able to subtract what we are generating from what we are using.’’ (NAN)
KC/LAB/JCE
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Edited by Lydia Beshel/Chukwudi Ekezie