The Secretary of the National Energy Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Njiddah, revealed that the Federal Government is set to provide not less than 420 megawatts of electricity using solar energy for nine northern states in Nigeria.

CEOAFRICA.com gathered that the project, according to Njiddah, would be implemented under the Nigerian-German Energy Partnership Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects (REEPS).

Our sources revealed that the Federal Government in 2008 signed an agreement with Germany to invest 20 million euros to increase energy efficiency by about 6,500mw through a mix of power generation sources.

Under the project, German Government is to provide 500mw of solar energy to be spread across the northern states of the country within five years.

Njiddah revealed that the pilot scheme, which is expected to cover all the northern states of the country, will commence in nine states which are; Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa and Sokoto. Each of the states would get 30mw solar plants.

He said the project was being implemented in line with the Power Reform Act which stipulates that 5 per cent of power generation must come from renewable energy by 2020.

“It is in the pursuit of this that we now consider that we can generate power from other sources apart from conventional thermal power generation.

“This is economically and environmentally efficient and also serves as another source of revenue for the beneficiary state governments using renewable energy for power generation.

“It is also an opportunity for us, and especially the tertiary institutions, to acquire skills in the area of capacity building and expansion, employment generation in thousands, wealth creation, among others,’’ he said.

The Infrastructure Bank Plc was appointed by the Federal Government to serve as the advisor and local financier arranger for the project.