Stakeholders validate technology plans for renewable energy resources

Industry stakeholders have endorsed three comprehensive sectoral Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) technology plans for renewable energy resources – solar, wind and biomass.

The experts also validated the draft report from the international consultant on development of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) mechanism for Nigerian power sector and the draft grid emission factor calculations for the sector.

Nigeria electricity grid faces many challenges, including insufficient grid-connected capacity to meet demand, inadequate infrastructure to make the country’s abundant gas available for power generation, and an inefficient transmission and distribution system with limited coverage.

Consequently, 50 per cent of the electrical energy consumed in the country is currently produced off-grid by diesel and gasoline generators of all shapes and sizes and there is also high unmet demand amongst the rural population. These energy gaps can be reduced with the country’s renewable energy resource potential such as solar, wind, biomass and hydropower energy.

Essentially, the stakeholders met for a two-day validation workshop in Lagos, organised by United Nations Development Programme under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) De-Risking Renewable Energy for the Power Sector. The five-year demonstration project is being implemented in Nigeria with the Energy Commission of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

Speaking at the workshop, the Project Team Leader, Okon Ekpeyong, an engineer, explained that the overall objective of the project is to assist the government in achieving a transformation in the electricity mix such that at least 20 GW of Nigeria’s electricity is generated from solar PV by 2030.

According to him, the project will contribute to the country’s attainment of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) mitigation targets in the energy sector, with expected direct emission reductions of 205,700 tons of carbon dioxide during the projects lifetime and additional indirect emission reductions of between 6.79 and 9.72 million tCO2e.

Okon said the project seeks to develop MRV framework, with appropriate indicators, to measure, report and verify emission reductions that will be generated by the investment in low-carbon activities under the NAMA/NDCs.

“The documents are articulated plan with specific, convincing request for financial and technical resources to help promoted the uptake and diffusion of solar PV, wind and biomass climate technologies in Nigeria and propose a road map or action plan for implementation,” he said.

Okon stated that many on-going energy projects do not consider the critical role of an MRV methodology in assessing the contribution of NAMA implementation to the overall national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.