SOLAR ENERGY
A burgeoning industry with the wind under its feet, solar manufacturers are educating and empowering a new generation of Nigerians.
I read physics at school and had a special insight into the country's great need for adequate generation and distribution of power. When I visited Guangzhou, China and saw their exhibition on the wide range of solar power applications, I came back and started working in a solar energy company in Nigeria to gain experience before helping set up Wavetra Energy. More people can now independently generate their own clean power, which gives me satisfaction, as it is what I have always envisioned. We basically sell clean energy. We have packages for power based on clients' power consumption. We do consultations and even orientation online, as well as repairs for inverters and controllers. We offer complete installation, warranty, consultation, and repair. As a company, our advantage is simple: we developed our own way of driving down costs with no compromise on quality. The market here was overpriced; therefore, we partnered with manufacturers in Germany, the UK, and OEMs in Asia and optimized our operations.
When I returned from California, I looked into Nigeria's problems, one of which was—and still is—power. We did some solar rooftop installation for several customers, which launched us into the solar market. We came up with some designs on how to power filling stations using solar. Though demand was initially low, we powered on. In 2012, we partnered with ABB (Newave), one of the top manufacturers of UPS in Europe. Two years ago, we decided to go back to basics and create many of our designs for gas station projects. If it is possible in some countries where they have less than three or four hours of daily sunlight on average, then it is possible in Nigeria since we have six or seven. One of our plans in Powercell is to have complete off-grid solar solutions for both commercial and residential areas in form of solar micro/mini grid projects. We are working on major filling stations across the country, as well as solar microgrids.
There are three key aspects in our logo: the color blue, a camel, and the sun. The blue represents hydropower, the sun represents solar energy, and the camel represents storage, so that is the concept of blue camel. We started in 2007 as a small company, a running store where we deployed small household inverters that store power from the grid and use it for home appliances. Shortly after, we discovered a great deal of potential in the industry, and within six years of operations we grew significantly. Since then, we have been expanding in other areas. We are located near the equator and have strong sunlight compared to most of the world; thus, we should harness this potential. We seek to go much deeper into the industry beyond installation, maintenance, and operations and into research, supporting the government, and education. The idea is that if we do not get it right this generation, we should be able to get it right for the next one.
Protergia emerged from our passion to provide solutions in the energy sector and bring in our own expertise in green economy. We started in 2015 and decided to stay within a particular market segment that we considered to be largely untouched: the commercial and industrial to utility scale sector. Before we entered the market, there had been a great deal of effort in small home systems (SHS), e.g. the 1-10kW systems for homes; however, because of the way the market evolved, there were many sub-standard products, poor workmanship, and engineering such that many Nigerians became disenfranchised and disillusioned about renewable and solar technologies. When we came in, we decided to sidestep the potential land mine in this market and embraced the commercial to utility scale market. We entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Niger State government to deliver 1,000MW in December of 2015. The first phase involves 100MW, the land has been allocated, and we are at the pre-development stage.
SOLAR ENERGY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview
Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)
TBY talks to Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), on combining the benefits of the private and public sectors, creating a broad range of skill sets, and improving the ease of doing business.
read articleInterview
Muda Yusuf, Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
TBY talks to Muda Yusuf, Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), on the importance of public policy advocacy, creating an enabling environment for investors, and supporting capacity building for small businesses.
read articleInterview
Mohamad Darwish, Co-Founder & CEO, IHS Nigeria
TBY talks to Mohamad Darwish, Co-Founder & IHS Nigeria CEO, on switching to innovative green hybrid energy solutions, protecting consumers without deterring investors, and getting the private sector to help tackle the biggest challenges.
read articleReview
The Delta Skelter
A recent uptick in the price of Brent crude to more than USD60 for the first time in two years was a widely welcome development, but threats of renewed attacks on the country's oil infrastructure by the Niger Delta Avengers threaten to undermine these gains before they can be enjoyed.
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Chief Tunde J. Afolabi, Chairman & CEO, Amni International Petroleum Development Company,
TBY talks to Chief Tunde J. Afolabi, Chairman & CEO of Amni International Petroleum Development Company, on its current efforts to attract investment, the importance of monetizing gas, and partnerships within the sector.
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Tayo-Adiatu Adeyemi, Managing Director, Tulcan Energy Resources Limited
TBY talks to Tayo-Adiatu Adeyemi, Managing Director of Tulcan Energy Resources Limited, on the evolution of the company's operations, the need to develop a robust downstream sector, and the opportunities in the sector.
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Ado Oseragbaje, Vice President Sub Saharan Africa, Baker Hughes
TBY talks to Ado Oseragbaje, Vice President Sub Saharan Africa of Baker Hughes, a GE company, on the problems with inefficiencies across supply chains, using technology to minimize inconveniences, and making offshore profitable again.
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Amy Jadesimi, Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL)
TBY talks to Amy Jadesimi, Managing Director of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL), on the key sectors based in the free zone, using sustainable options for power, and the company's fully integrated support model.
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Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister , Power, Works, and Housing
TBY talks to Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, on the ongoing initiatives to increase power generation and distribution across the country and the need for distribution companies to provide reliable power.
read articleFocus: Diaspora Cities
No Place Like Home
With one of the largest diasporas in the world, Nigeria is trying to charm its citizens overseas to invest into the country's property market through the Nigerians in Diaspora Housing Programme, through which “diaspora cities” will be created across the country.
read articleFocus: Outbound Medical Tourism
The Business of (Health) Caring
Nigeria's healthcare sector is suffering from significant brain drain due to workers' unfavorable conditions, while failure to invest in medical facilities is encouraging patients to seek treatments abroad with significant economic consequences.
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