In a bid to provide remote communities with clean and affordable energy, the Rural Electrification Agency under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Power has delivered 100kWp Solar Hybrid Mini-Grid designed to adequately serve off-grid community in Ogun state.

This was disclosed by the agency in a tweet which was issued via its official Twitter handle today.

#PoweringOlooji – Today, the 26th of Nov, 2020, it was the turn of the indigenes of Olooji community, Ijebu-East, Ogun state. We delivered a 100kWp Wolar Hybrid Mini-Grid designed to adequately serve this off-grid community in Ogun state. pic.twitter.com/i2tT3gGVU4

— REA Nigeria (@realREANigeria) November 26, 2020

The Rural Electrification Agency disclosed that the intervention of the Solar Hybrid Mini-Grid to the community was successfully delivered under Rural Electrification Fund (REF).

The Executive Director, REF, Sanusi Ohiare encouraged the indigenes to optimise the impact of this intervention while using this access to clean, safe and reliable energy productively.

However, the Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency, Mr. Ahmad Salihjo, while sharing his remarks, explained to the community members that he strongly believes that the quality of lives will be improved and children will have better learning experiences with access to reliable electricity in Olooji community.

Mr. Ahmad commended  the community for their cooperation with the REA team and the Mini-Grid developer Acob Lighting Technology Limited.

What you should know

Recall that Nairametrics reported on November 12, 2020, that the Federal Government through its implementing Agency, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), commissioned a 100KW solar hybrid mini-grid power plant in Ebonyi State.

The Agency disclosed that the completed project is in line with the government’s mandate, as the present administration seeks to provide remote communities with clean and affordable energy, through strategic investment in the deployment of Mini-grid systems that will provide power for 5 million homes in 2021.

President Muhammadu Buhari has called for the alignment of capacity and attraction of investments across the generation, transmission and distribution components of the Power Sector’s value chain.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Engr Salam Mamman, who represented the President, in a speech read at the  launch of Eko Electricity DisCo’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system in Lagos on Thursday.

He said, “We must ensure that there is an alignment of capacity and attraction of investments across the generation, transmission and distribution components of the Power Sector’s value chain.

“I acknowledge the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) financial support towards this project through the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilization Facility granted in 2015. This facility significantly led to the successful completion of this project.

“My administration remains committed to addressing the liquidity challenges which are adversely affecting the Power sector’s viability. We have noted with grave concern: The increased fiscal burden on the Federal Government (FG) occasioned by the tariff shortfalls in the sector which are no longer sustainable.”

Bottom line

It is obvious that the CBN’s Payment Assurance Facility (CBN PAF) targeted at supporting tariff shortfalls can no longer be extended and must be phased out to allow the sector’s financial independence.

The government is also aware that these tariff shortfalls sit on DisCos’ books and impair their ability to raise capital and invest.

Hon. MIN. OF POWER @EngrSMamman REPRESENTS PRESIDENT @MBuhari IN LAGOS AT THE LAUNCH OF @EKEDP COMPANY'S SCADA SYSTEM.

SPEECH BELOW👇📖

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, PRESIDENT @MBuhari, AT @EKEDP PLC’S OFFICIAL

Cc: @NigeriaGov pic.twitter.com/uJONj2qyjl

— Office of the Minister of Power (@PowerMinNigeria) November 26, 2020

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has revealed that it plans to automate and begin remote monitoring, registration, and accreditation of petroleum products depots, retail outlets, and the entire downstream oil and gas industry, with the launch of the newly established Downstream Remote Monitoring Systems (DRMS).

While disclosing a statement in Abuja, the Head, Public Affairs of the DPR, Paul Osu, pointed out that the newly established Downstream Remote Monitoring Systems is expected to take off on December 1, 2020, after the launch in Abuja.

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According to a report by Vanguard, Osu explained that the DRMS is a web-based solution designed to provide intelligent regulatory and inventory management system for petroleum products supply and distribution from depot to retail outlets and also as a regulatory tool to monitor retail outlets and depot activities.

He said, “Other features of the application include retail outlets accreditation and re-registration, nationwide automated product inventory management, retail outlets coordinate recording for mapping purposes and transactions management and report generation of dealers nationwide.

READ: NNPC says local operators must improve capacity to achieve low cost of oil production

“The establishment of DRMS is another strategic initiative of DPR to continue to create opportunities and enable business in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.”

It can be recalled that the DPR had a few months ago, launched the National Production Monitoring System (NPMS), another online platform to assist the oil and gas regulator accurately monitor national crude oil production and exports, through the provision of a system for direct and independent acquisition of production data from oil and gas facilities in Nigeria

READ: House of Reps summon Emefiele, NNPC GMD over unremitted N3.24 trillion

This is to ensure timely and accurate reporting of production figures and export data. This is also expected to guard against the crude oil theft that is prevalent in Nigeria’s upstream oil sector or reported cases of crude oil that is sold but unaccounted for.

The NPMS is an initiative that is developed as a replacement for the current paper-based report and ensures ready production reporting to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other agencies.