The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday, inaugurated the 10-megawatt Kano Solar Power Project funded by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority with the sum of $16m.
 
It stated that Haske Solar Company Limited, the project vehicle whose name means light in the Hausa language, was jointly owned by the Federal Government, Kano State Government, and the host Local Government – Kumbotso.
 
“The project is currently the largest grid-connected solar PV plant and is a proof of successful mid-sized solar PV deployment in Nigeria,” the NSIA stated.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/buhari-unveils-16m-kano-solar-power-project
​

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in a new report, has revealed that investment in renewables can provide nearly 60 per cent of Nigeria’s energy demand by 2050.
 
The report said such an investment is cost-effective, as it will deliver economic growth and jobs while achieving global climate and sustainable development objectives.
 
It added that renewable energy sources will enable up to 40 per cent savings in natural gas and 65 per cent in oil needs at the same time.
 
The report, titled: Renewable Energy Roadmap Nigeria, noted that: “With a growing population and a range of socio-economic challenges, Nigeria requires sustainable energy sources to meet the growing needs for all the sectors of its economy and achieve universal access to modern energy services.”
 
More details at:
https://guardian.ng/business-services/renewables-can-deliver-60-of-nigerias-energy-demand-by-2050-report
​

The 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) collected $441.2 million from about 12 million electricity customers. They remitted $298 million as energy costs while spending a balance of $141.3 million on staff salaries and network investments in the first three months of 2022.  
 
According to the first quarter 2022 report released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Thursday, the DisCos billed customers $652.7 million and collected $441.2 million representing 67.36 per cent collection efficiency...
 
More details at:
https://dailytrust.com/consumers-pay-n199bn-energy-bill-as-discos-remit-n135bn-in-q1-2022
​

An estimated 12.792 million registered consumers paid at least $3 billion as charges for power supply to them by the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) within 23 months – from November 2020 to September 2022.
 
According to an analysis of data published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the customers owe $1.3 billion as the debt of the entire $4.3 billion bill during the period.
 
More details at:
https://dailytrust.com/discos-earn-n1-3tr-from-electricity-bills-in-23-months 

More Nigerians, particularly those in rural areas and communities far away from the national power grid, are embracing solar home systems and mini-grids to meet their electricity needs.
 
The report, which covered 2020, noted that access to electricity in Nigeria remained poor because electrification advances failed to keep pace with population growth.
 
Additional data sourced from the document showed that the solar hybrid mini-grid initiative would gulp $213m; energising education programme, $250m; standalone solar home systems, $75m; while energy efficient and productive use appliances would be funded with $20m.
 
The REA report specifically stated that a total of 1,021,510 off-grid connections had been made through the NEP, noting that about five million Nigerians had been electrified through the power connections.
 
It stated that a total of 995,396 solar home systems were deployed, while 67 mini-grids were completed across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to ensure the connections…
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/how-off-grid-electricity-sustains-nigerian-businesses-households
​

The National Bureau of Statistics has stated in its electricity report for H1 2022, that the number of metered consumers for Q2 2022 was 4,958,795, compared to 4,789,799 in Q1 2022.
 
The report also shows that the estimated billing consumers for Q1 was 5,840,927, while a higher rate was recorded for Q2 at 5,849,152.
 
Nairametrics had earlier reported that data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed the registered energy customer population stood at 12.78 million, of which only 4.77million (37.3% of the identified customers) were metered, leaving the unmetered population at 8.01million customers (62.7% of the registered customers) as of September 2021.
 
More details at:
https://nairametrics.com/2022/09/23/number-of-metered-electricity-consumers-in-nigeria-increased-to-4-9-million-in-q2-2022
​

The 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) collected $1.8 billion in the First Quarter (Q1) of 2022, according to a statement by the Association of Nigerian Energy Distributors (ANED) yesterday.
 
Its Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, who issued the statement in Abuja, noted that the high collection was recorded despite various lapses in the industry. He added that the DisCos have installed 129,352 distribution transformers since the power sector privatisation of 2013.
 
More details at:
https://thenationonlineng.net/discos-collect-n777b-revenue-in-q1/

Nigerians spent N1.69tn electronically on utility bills such as power, Pay TV subscriptions, and other everyday utilities in the first seven months of 2022, according to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System.
 
This is a 32.06 per cent increase from the N1.28tn that was electronically spent on utilities in the corresponding period of 2021. This figure indicates an increasing acceptance of electronic channels for bills payment by Nigerians. In the first seven months of 2022, the e-bill pay platform was used 562,030 times, which was a 24.16 per cent decrease from the 741,081 times it was used in the corresponding period of 2021.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/nigerians-seven-month-expenditure-on-utility-bills-hits-n1-69tn/
​

Nigeria has secured a $1.5bn loan facility from the US-EXIM Bank to deliver solar power infrastructure in 10 different locations nationwide.
 
Chief Executive Officer, SUN Africa LLC, USA, Adam Cortese, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting of a delegation of the company with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
 
Cortese noted that the government-to-government loan facility would cover a concession period of 20 years.
 
He said, “This is government-to-government financing. It’s built upon the success that we’ve had in Angola recently, where we’ve delivered roughly $2.6bn of solar PV storage and transmission capacity.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/nigeria-secures-1-5bn-us-backed-loan-for-solar-projects
​

Nigeria’s solar companies are seeing a surge in demand for mini-grids and equipment as businesses in Africa’s biggest oil producer look for alternative power sources after the cost of diesel soared locally due to rising global oil prices.
 
According to Reuters, Supply constraints could, however, hamper their ability to capitalize on the trend, with some saying they have begun to turn away customers because they are unable to meet demand.
 
“There has been an increased growth in demand [for solar], I think really driven by the spike in diesel prices this year,” Victor Ezenwoko, Daystar Power chief commercial officer said.
 
The Energy Commission of Nigeria says the country spends $22 billion annually to fuel generators.
 
More details at:
https://dailytrust.com/nigerian-businesses-turn-to-solar-as-diesel-costs-bite