Financial Energy Review
Creeds Energy one of the leading renewable company said it has energized 50 households in Bassa, Nasarawa State, with 24-hour solar energy access using mesh-grids from Okra Solar at a 30 percent cost savings compared Mini- grid.
The 50 household project with the company marks Okra’s third successful deployment of mesh-grids in Nigeria. The company said it has a track record of deploying successful projects and is aiming to rapidly expand their mesh-grid portfolio to 910 households with the financial support of the Rural Electrification Agency.
According to Creeds the project was installed in five days, with households generating clean power instantly. The total project has 10kW of solar PV generation, 51.2kWh of battery storage capacity (LFP), and supplies an average daily load of 460Wh/day, sized for 99 percentnetwork uptime.
Creeds said the Okra’s innovative “plug-and-play” mesh-grid technology is installed at each household, just like typical rooftop solar home systems, and allows neighbouring households to interconnect and share excess energy. “This increases the overall energy availability and reliability of the service, similar to mini-grids. Households energized by the mesh-grid in Bassa will be able to use electric cooking, refrigeration and water pumping amongst other productive use appliances”
“The cost per connection for this 50 household pilot was less than USD $1,000/household, which represents an estimated 30% cost saving compared to delivering the same amount of power (460Wh/day) using a traditional centralised mini-grid.
“The scale-up phase of the project will see Creeds electrifying an additional 910 households and businesses spread across the Bassa community and the nearby market area. These areas currently lack access to electricity altogether or are predominantly using diesel generators as a primary source of electricity.
“The scale-up project will also energise a mosque and a health care centre, creating a green hub in the centre of Nasarawa State. In 2015, the United Nations set out to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, including SDG7: clean and affordable energy access for all. Nigeria still has about 90 million people without basic energy access, but projects like this one in Bassa are an example of how local companies are using innovative approaches to make an impact” Hannah Kabir, CEO of Creeds Energy said.
