Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency seeks consulting support for solar project

The Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency (NREA) has called for consulting firms to assist with the launch of its 1 gigawatt (GW) Solar IPP programme, which is backed by the African Development Bank. The assignment involves the design of a masterplan for the project in addition to the conduction of feasibility studies.

The NREA is looking to entirely revamp the energy infrastructure in the province of Jigawa. Much like a number of other African countries, Africa’s largest economy is using this restructuring process as an opportunity to gravitate towards more renewable forms of energy.

Situated in Northern Nigeria, Jigawa is a province that receives high volumes of sunshine on an annual basis, which makes it an ideal prospect for the development of a solar power plant. To tap into this abundance of sunshine, the Nigerian government has made the decision to design a solar power project in the Gwiwa city of the province.

The project will be funded by the African Development Bank – which recently revamped its leadership – through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa initiative. This programme is specifically aimed at supporting small and medium-scale renewable energy projects across the continent.

To assist with designing a master-plan for the 1 GW project, in addition to evaluating the feasibility of the same, the NREP is now looking for consulting firms with experience in the energy infrastructure domain.

The additional energy generated by the plant will be directly supplied to the nationwide grid through the establishment of a new transmission line, which will be constructed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria. The capacity of the new line will be between 132kV and 330kV.

The plant will be developed along the model employed in the construction of the Moroccan Solar Programme, which was also supported by the African Development Bank. To help integrate the salient features of the model, the Jigawa project will receive support from the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency (MASEN).

As explained in a document from the African Development Bank, “The MASEN model provides for significant investment and commitment upfront by the State with the aim to de-risk the investment and therefore reduce the overall cost from the IPP developers during procurement.”