Just two days after commissioning a similar project at Bisanti, Katcha LGA of Niger State, the Bank of Industry today commissioned another in Osun State. Below is the full speech delivered by the Managing Director/CEO Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa.

ADDRESS BY

1. RASHEED OLAOLUWA

MANAGING DIRECTOR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

BANK OF INDUSTRY LIMITED

 

ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMMISSIONING OF

THE 24Kw MICRO-GRID SOLAR SOLUTION IN IDI-ITA/ONIBAMBU COMMUNITY, IFE-NORTH LGA, OSUN STATE.

THURSDAY, 8^TH OCTOBER, 2015

PROTOCOLS:

Your Excellency, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola

The Executive Governor of Osun State,

 

Your Excellency, Otunba Grace Laoye-Tomori

The Deputy Governor of Osun State,

Members of the Osun State Executive Council,

Members of the Osun State House of Assembly here present,

The elders and people of Idi-ita/Onibambu Community,

All invited guests,

Gentlemen of the Press,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. 

1. It is my singular honour and privilege to welcome you to the official commissioning of the BOI/UNDP 24kW solar micro-grid solution in Idi-Ita/Onibambu, Ife North LGA of Osun State.
2. It is a well known fact that Nigeria’s current electricity situation is unsatisfactory, with the total electricity supply from our national grid just peaking above 4500MW in recent months. Relative to the electricity demand conservatively estimated at 40,000MW, this is grossly inadequate for a leading African economy like Nigeria with a population of 170 million people.

3. Many Nigerians and Nigerian businesses who can afford it have resorted to the use of electric generators at great expense. This has hampered the socio-economic development of our nation as it has created an atmosphere that is not conducive for MSMEs which are the drivers of the nation’s economic growth to thrive.

4. Worse hit are the rural communities, especially the off-grid areas which have always been without electricity and have resigned their fate to the use of kerosene lanterns, oil lamps, and other types of dangerous and unhealthy sources of light to be able to live their daily lives. This is one of the main factors responsible for the concept of rural-urban migration.

5. The central power generation, transmission and distribution system operational in the country can no longer deliver competitive, cheap and reliable electricity to remote customers through the national grid. Rather than wait in vain for the national grid to reach these areas, we should explore the golden opportunity that renewable energy presents for the provision of clean, affordable and sustainable energy for our rural communities.

6. Renewable energy such as hydro, wind and solar are growing in relevance and commercial adoption on a global scale. The critical role of renewable energy was reemphasized at the G7 summit which held in June, 2015,where the leading industrial nations agreed to decarbonise the global economy by phasing out the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century, i.e. over the next 85 years.

7. Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the world is making rapid advancements in solar technologies and installations with Photovoltaic (PV) being the most promising technology for off-grid solar home systems. The cost of these systems has reduced considerably in the last 6 years. Rapid deployment and falling costs have each been driving the other.

8. Global investment in solar energy increased by 20% to $149.6 billion in 2014, with China, USA, Japan, India and Brazil leading in that order.

9. In the USA, the leading solar energy company, Solarcity, has installed over 500,000 solar home systems. A new home is switched to Solarcity every three minutes.

10. Simpa Networks in India, and M-Kopa in Kenya, have introduced the ‘ Pay-As-You-Go’ pre-paid technology in their offering of off-grid rural solar home systems.

11. Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you will recall that PAYG technology was the magic wand employed by the telecommunications industry to drive the rapid growth in GSM subscription across Africa over the last decade and a half. PAYG addresses two problems: first is the cash flow constraint for the customer and second is the credit risk management issue for the service provider.

12. East Africa is already leading the way for Sub-Saharan Africa. M-kopa, subsidiary of Kenya telecoms giant, Safaricom, has installed the solar home systems to over 180,000 rural homes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

13. There is a developmental imperative for us in Nigeria to also employ the PAYG magic wand in solving the electricity crises by replicating this model in Nigeria.

14. We are starting off with the provision of long-term financing for the installation of off-grid solar home systems in six communities in a pilot phase, as part of our Solar Energy Partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These communities, with an average of 200 homes each, are located in Anambra, Edo, Gombe, Kaduna, Niger and Osun States. Today, we have come to Osun State in partnership with Arnergy Solar Limited to commission a 24kW micro-grid solar electrification system in Idi-ita/Onibambu, a community which hitherto had no access to electricity.

15. Arnergy Solar Limited, the project developer, Arnergy Solar Limited specializes in the provision of clean energy to customers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). The company has implemented stand-alone PV solar systems in communities in Lagos and Ogun States.

16. To this end, the Bank provided the sum of N44.0 million to Arnergy Solar Limited for the deployment of a micro-grid solar system in Idi-ita/Onibambu. We intend to replicate the project in other such communities in Osun as well as other parts of the country upon successful implementation of this pilot scheme.

17. Each home will have sufficient solar electricity to power three (3) LED light bulbs, 1 electric fan, 1 radio/TV set and of course, mobile phone charging. These are the basic energy needs of an average rural family. What we have initiated today, is a commercially sound model for delivering power to Nigerian rural homes at affordable rates, to provide a long-term alternative to the problematic national grid.

18. Two (2) days ago, on the 6^th of October to be precise, a similar 24kW micro-grid solar electrification project was commissioned in another off-grid community at Bisanti, which is located in Katcha LGA of Niger State. We shall also be replicating these projects over the next few months in four (4) additional off-grid communities located at Ogbekpen in Ikpoba Okha LGA of Edo State, Kolwa in Kaltungo LGA of Gombe State, Onono in Anambra West LGA of Anambra State and Carwa/Cakum in Markarfi LGA of Kaduna State.

19. We want our rural communities to take control of their energy generation and to pay for only the energy used. Our medium term vision is to have 100,000 homes installed with solar systems in the next five years, through a combination of micro-grid and stand-alone solar home systems. This is essentially a programme aimed at poverty alleviation and rural economic development, and we are ready to partner with the State Government and other stakeholders to replicate this project being commissioned in Idi-ita/Onibambu today, in other off-grid communities within the State.

20. Thank you for your kind attention and God bless you all.

 

 

Rasheed Olaoluwa

Managing Director/CEO

Bank of Industry