The incessant occurrences of grid collapse and power outages in Nigeria is not a new tale. Several businesses have suffered losses and incurred debts due to the crippling electricity supply in the country.
This year alone, the country has experienced grid collapse, water management issue in its hydropower plant and gas supply constraint in its thermal plants.
This article aims to proffer a suitable solution to electricity transmission in Nigeria by integrating large-scale solar into the electricity grid.
Large-scale solar, otherwise known as Utility-scale solar, is a scheme that traps an ample amount of the sun’s energy through a field of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity.
The solar panels transform the energy from the sun into direct current (DC) electricity received by inverters which convert power into alternating current that can be integrated into the electricity grid. A large-scale solar farm can generate hundreds of kilowatts to thousands of megawatts of solar power.
What potential does Nigeria have?
Nigeria has abundant solar energy potential. It is situated in a belt of high solar radiation with an average sunshine duration of 6 hours per day and 5.5 kWh/m2 per day. The country’s northern region has the highest solar irradiation, around 7.0kWh/m2 per day, thus has the most significant potential for large-scale solar PV in the country. On a smaller scale, the south has a promising potential with irradiation of 4kWh/m2 per day.
In addition to the resource potential, Nigeria has a huge consumer market potential. Most businesses in the country require electricity to thrive.
Sustainable solutions such as integrating large-scale solar into the grid presents a great opportunity for investors (learn more). In this regard, investors can own the solar farm and sell the generated electricity to the transmission companies, which would progress to the distribution end and then to final consumers who would be assured of the free flow in business and pay for the electricity received.