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Total targets 1,000mw solar power project in Nigeria

By Businessnews Staff on September 10, 2014

French oil giant, Total targets to build solar power plants that will generate 1,000 megawatts in Nigeria as part of the company’s efforts to address the power supply challenges in the country.

The Managing Director of Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, Mrs. Elisabeth Proust told THISDAY in a recent interview that Total had decided to focus on one type of alternative energy in Nigeria, which is Solar.

According to her, the company started in many countries in West Africa, Asia and the Middle East by providing energy to the people with no electricity.

“We also bought one of the leading developers of solar panels, called Sun Power. It is good to see that CSR can lead to an industry change. Total has developed what we call the Awango solar lamp for personal use where electricity supply is not constant. We sell this through Total filling stations in Nigeria but hope to also move it into commercial stores. There are two types of solar energy depending on how electricity is generated from the sun. The first type are photovoltaic cells. This has special cells which capture the sun radiation even where you have clouds. This was the case in Indonesia and it is also the case for Nigeria – you need to use photovoltaic cells,” she explained.

“The second one uses a system of direct mirrors. We used this in Abu Dhabi because we have constant direct radiation from the sun. But for Nigeria, if you want everyday electricity, the photovoltaic system is the right technology to use as it works even in a rainy country though it is obviously more effective if it gets direct sunlight,” she added.

Proust said Total had developed industrial solar plants in several countries, adding that similar projects were started in Nigeria three years ago.

According to her, the company identified five projects, which it could execute in collaboration with other companies and some institutions that provide funds to assist in the creation of such projects.

She further clarified that the funds are not from Total but from the company’s partners.
“At the present, we are planning to launch one of the projects in 2015. This requires a lot of measures because you need to effectively identify the best location with high intensity of radiation. The North of Nigeria is the best place because it has the most sun. We have a project in Katsina because it is an ideal position with a lot of sunlight and less clouds and rains. We work with authorities to achieve our objective. We are targeting plants of about 200 to 300 megawatts so we can reach something around 1,000 megawatts,” she said.

“So, this is really an industrial development. We have a big organization on solar energy in Total in Nigeria and we have a special team that is ready to assist on the special technical side to address any challenges,” she added.

[This Day]

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