The Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric Distribution Company, Mr. Folake Soetan has said that Nigeria’s solar energy potential is estimated at around 6,500 Terawatt hours (TWh), per year, and it is currently higher than the country’s current electricity output at an average of 3,570 megawatts per day.
She added that Nigeria’s wind potential, approximately 76 gigawatts, shows that there is abundant resource available for renewable energy generation in Nigeria.
At the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC, Energy Group conference in Lagos, Soetan said that renewable energy opportunity in Nigeria is vast and poses a potential for the country’s economic and environmental transformation.
She stated: “If you look at our growing population and the increasing energy demand, the renewable energy sector presents a significant opportunity for addressing Nigeria’s power deficit while reducing greenhouse gas emissions’’. Nigeria’s National Renewable Energy and Efficiency Policy aims to achieve 30 per cent renewable energy and emission by 2030.
Also speaking at the conference, President/Chairman of Council, NBCC, Mr Ray Atelly, said that there is an urgent need to, not only design but also implement e-scale energy transition programs for many countries, including Nigeria.
Atelly said that by stopping uncontrolled deforestation and ecosystem degradation, we can see 5.9gt annually, adding, “Imagine the improvements we stand to have in our environment and our health if we simply cut less trees and allow plants and natural vegetation to live alongside our concrete mansions’’.
