Nigerian Maritime company, Nigerdock, has said it is displacing 40% of its daytime energy use following recent solar installations at its Snake Island office in Lagos state.
In a statement seen by Thisday, Nigerdock’s Chief Executive Officer, Maher Jarmakani noted that the migration to solar energy is also helping the company to cut down on its greenhouse emission. He said:
- “As a self-sustaining economic hub, improving our energy consumption and reducing our carbon footprint is pivotal to our long-term operations and success. Our renewable energy solution will provide us and our growing clientele with consistent power and greater ease to conduct business.
- “This project is part of a wider push by Nigerdock to develop 20 megawatts (MW) of sustainable, cost-effective, and reliable power within the free zone. Current solar operations enable Nigerdock to displace 40% of its daytime energy consumption, reduce CO2 output by about 2,000 metric tons, and achieve significant emission reduction targets.
- “The solar power expansion is the next step in Nigerdock’s journey towards green port status, highlighting the company’s vision and commitment to Nigeria’s Climate Change Act, the Blue Economy, and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.”
Growing trend: Nigerdock’s Snake Island shipyard was originally built with power generating sets fully covering the power needs of the shipyard. However, in recent times, more businesses are migrating to renewables.
- During the February 4 Nairametrics Economic Outlook webinar, the Chief Commercial Officer at Mixta Africa, Rolake Akinkugbe – Filani said that Nigeria needs to diversify its energy mix to boost business operations. She provided an example with an Oil and Gas Executive who said one of the flow stations was being powered by renewable energy.
- Commercial and industrial (C&I) shift to renewable energy has become a growing trend as more Nigerian businesses and corporations migrate to solar energy systems, so as to reduce carbon emissions and provide power supply reliance at least during the day when solar energy can be fully harnessed.
For the record: It is instructive to note that prior to this time, the Nigerian government had identified free trade zones in the country as promising targets for the development of solar photovoltaic (PV). This is because they have similar needs as industrial clusters with regards to the provision of reliable power supply.
- In December 2022, a stakeholder in the Nigerian C&I space, told Nairametrics that transitioning larger energy consumers to solar has a significant positive climate impact.
- According to him, there is still a fundamental challenge of grid reliability which presents a massive opportunity to provide energy solutions to large businesses.
- He also said that the business model for C&I is less risky than others since there is guaranteed energy offtake.
It’s impressive to hear such news coming up in recent times, but the cost of installation is still unaffordable for our exponentially growing population. The current exchange rate has made it impossible for Nigerians to have PV power systems in their residences. Of course the success of solar power systems is not limited to C&I – it should cut across all sphere of human endeavors in Nigeria before we could say that we’re making a headway. I strongly believe that we will get there – to a time when Nigeria will be regarded as a country that’s helping to save the planet from deteriorating, if we would fix our economic conundrums ravaging our economy at the moment. To do that, the must be a firm cooperation between the law makers and the economists of our nation. So many reckless bills have been passed and adopted into our economy in recent times that’s why we keep seeing deterioration instead of reinvigoration of our economy. And I believe that, without being politically biased, if a certain crop of technocrats have not been able to impact our economy profitably with their ideas and know-hows, they should step down. Without missing words, only a fraction impact can we boast of renewable energy solutions in Nigeria – a lot is yet to be done, especially for a country that has suffered epileptic energy supply for a long time. If we check the economic giants of the world, we must find a common ground of all – power sustainability. So, if renewable energy solutions will fetch us such eminent and prestigious position among the nations of the world then it’s worth trying.