By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A study carried out by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and All-On, a Shell-funded impact investment company, has shown that about 500,000 Nigerian households use solar energy.
In a statement made available to Business Post, it was stated that the number of households that have embraced the cleaner source of electricity only constitutes 1.25 per cent of the total households in the country.
Despite this low solar energy use, the Nigerian solar off-grid market is among the fastest-growing in Africa, increasing at a 22 per cent average annual rate during the past five years but has underperformed its peers in Africa in penetration of off-grid solar – and has a long way to go before its solar market could be considered robust.
It stated that Nigeria’s installed photovoltaic (PV) panel per capita amounts to only about 1 watts compared to an average of 8 watts in a similar emerging market, indicating a big opportunity for further growth in the country.
It disclosed that given the dynamics favouring solar deployment in the country, Nigeria’s PV per capita could reach 5 –8 GW by 2030.
According to the Managing Director and Partner, BCG (West Africa), and Head of BCG Nigeria, Mr Tolu Oyekan, installing solar in 18,000 PHCs that do not otherwise have access to reliable power could increase antenatal care coverage from current levels of 50 to 70 per cent of pregnant women and with improved refrigeration vaccine wastage would be reduced by as much as 20 per cent.
He also projected that providing solar to about 1,200 public boarding schools would increase average student study hours across the country from about 8 hours to 18 hours per week and improve ICT teaching hours by as much as 60 per cent.
“Based on current solar-powered cold storage adoption data, by electrifying 600,000 Nigerian farmers who currently don’t have cold storage facilities, PHL could be slashed by as much as 60 per cent, producing enough additional food to feed 6.5 million people annually.
“Assuming solar penetration among households in Nigeria reaches peer nation average of about 30 per cent by 2030, an additional 5 million tonnes of CO2 can be avoided as emissions from households would be reduced by nearly 30 per cent.
“Deploying solar to around 15 to 20 million MSMEs in markets without reliable grid electricity could increase income at these companies by $7 billion to $10 billion, some 40 per cent of annual MSME earnings,” Mr Oyekan added.
Adedapo Adesanya