Solar firms are seeking to raise more funds to expand to meet up with the demand for solar products. The surge in diesel prices has pushed businesses to explore renewable power sources.
In a report by Bloomberg, solar energy providers are seeing increasing installations this year after diesel prices surged 181per cent in the country. Most companies in the continent’s biggest economy rely on private generators to run everything from factories to offices as the national grid is unable to supply enough electricity.
Demand for solar has “skyrocketed,” Chief Operating Officer, Lagos-based Rensource Energy, Prince Ojeabulu, said. The company has installed over six megawatts of solar power so far this year, six times as much as it did last year.
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Power outages for more than 12 hours a day means companies in the country have to fend for themselves. Poor maintenance and insufficient investment in the transmission network have resulted in only about a third of the country’s installed capacity being dispatched by the grid daily – a fraction of what’s needed in a nation of more than 200 million people.
Rival Daystar Power Energy Solutions has seen similar installed capacity growth. It has set up over five megawatts so far this year from one megawatt last year. But the Chief Executive Officer, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg, said there was still plenty of room to grow due to higher diesel prices, which costs between 200 and N250 per kilowatt hour, compared with about N70 per kwh for solar.
“Hundreds of megawatts of solar can be installed in West Africa and the broader African region per year, without making a serious dent in demand,” Hardenberg, whose company has installed solar power for some of Nigeria’s biggest companies, including Nigerian Bottling Co. and Access Bank Plc, said.
