Nigeria’s solar power gospel is gaining momentum as more companies are beginning to invest in renewable energy to drive production, a move most experts forecasts as the country’s best shot at eradicating its electricity problems.
Each day, Nigeria generates around 5,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity, which is so unreliable that most homes and businesses have a generator while the industrial cities are constantly filled with noise and pollution from millions of people creating their own power.
In a bid to solve this challenge, Nigerian companies such as Nigerian Breweries and Big Bottling Company Limited are building capacity in solar energy and also joining other global corporations in reducing pollution and helping fight climate change.
On May 20, the Nigerian Breweries Plc unveiled a 663.6 KWP solar power plant which would reduce its carbon emission from its Ibadan brewery by 10,000 tonnes over its lifespan.
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The company is also planning to achieve over 70 percent renewable energy usage by 2030, describing the move as part of its contribution to reducing carbon footprints from its production plants across the country.
“We are brewing a better world by significantly reducing carbon emission from our production sites by 2030,” Nigerian Breweries’ Managing Director, Jordi Borrut Bel said.
He noted that plans are also underway to expand the project as well as commission other similar solar plants in all its Aba, Enugu, and Lagos bottling plants.
“We do not want to only be the number one in sales and profitability; we also want to be the number one in environmental sustainability to enable the communities we operate in to benefit from our operations in the best possible way,” Borrut Bel told journalists.
Kola Jamodu, chairman of Nigerian Breweries, said the solar power plant is the fourth largest brewery in Nigeria, as the company is using it as the pilot scheme to demonstrate its commitment to environmental sustainability by making a major financial investment to establish the solar plant.
Nigeria’s Big Bottling Company Limited, the producers of Big Cola, Big Orange, and other popular Nigerian drinks have also installed a 950kw solar power plant in Ogun State.
According to Starsight Energy, an African C& I solar power provider, the project is the largest solar solution in Nigeria to date.
Over time, the application of solar systems in Nigeria is becoming more enormous with various applications in small-scale lighting, water pumps, and vaccine storage, a message Nigerian manufacturing companies are also beginning to get.
For most Nigerians, the initiative is a welcome development in solving issues surrounding climate change and energy poverty which is one of the significant limitations to thriving entrepreneurial growth in Africa’s biggest economy.
The development would also empower businesses, create job opportunities, and reduce carbon emissions while ensuring a safer environment for our nation and, by extension, the world.
