Championing Renewable Energy Through Carbon Reduction

The challenge of generating electricity in Nigeria has become hydra-headed in nature. Several administrations, have made efforts to resolve the problem of electricity power but their best has consistently come short, with the country’s power grid experiencing frequent collapses recently.

Though the most recent collapse was attributed to the collapse of Oben Gas plant, which led to failure to generate supply. Government sources have assured that concerted efforts are ongoing to resolve the situation and ensure it doesn’t repeat.

Those who are in the know have projected that about 50,000MW would be required to adequately light up Nigeria. But, as of July 2016, the total installed capacity in Nigeria was 12,522MW while estimated population stood at 187 million. These depict a far cry from the projected power requirement expected to sustain the nation. Countries like Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania with smaller populations have considerable greater installed capacity.

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Power analysts aver that Nigeria receives approximately Nigeria receives an average solar radiation of about 7.0kWh/m2-day (25.2MJ/m2-day) in the far north and about 3.5kWh/m2-day (12.6MJ/m2-day) in the coastal latitudes. This is about 4000 times the crude oil production in a day and about 13000 times natural gas production, yet 70 per cent of Nigerians don’t have access to electricity. The good news is every Nigerian has unlimited access to sunlight, therefore the nation has no excuse not to be leading the renewable energy alternatives in Africa.

However, Nigeria is still lagging in the solar sector and the renewable industry as a whole. The reasons are not farfetched. The majority of the public and government have a very cynical attitude to solar and favour gas flaring over harnessing.

However, Virtutis Solaris Limited, a smart renewable energy subsidiary under Mojec International Portfolio Group is poised to tackle the challenge of uninterrupted power supply to Africans, through the provision of renewable energy solutions and smart energy solutions.

The company seeks to use the power of abundant Sun in Africa to power people’s homes, offices, industries and cars. During the day while they are not home, the power generated by the panels can be stored in smart energy storage units called V-cube or the V-container (which stores up to 100kwH of power).

According to the MD/CEO, Virtutis Solaris, Ms Chantelle Abdul the company aims to offer clients smart home Solutions which include automation, Energy measurement and Energy Management. She said this technology will enable customers to remotely switch on and off appliances in their homes in a bid to manage their energy consumption. Solaris intends to deploy solutions nationwide.

She explains further, “We are also involved in building embedded mini-grids for large commercial, industrial, and utility customers. Our company provides last-mile renewable energy for residential, industrial and utility-scale clients as well as the supply and installation of energy storage equipment and other related services.
We have left no stone unturned to solve the problem of unreliable power supply in Nigeria and on the continent by providing clean sustainable energy to end-users by harnessing the power of the sun and the grid thereby eliminating the dependency on diesel and generating sets.

“Our vision is to set the pace as a reputable power solution company distinguished by innovation, technology and superior service delivery, while our product delivery ranges from Residential Solutions, Utility Solutions, and Industrial Solutions.”
The Residential Solution, also known as Solaris VS series is a silent, planet-friendly, cost-effective and scalable 4kWh to 16kWh capacity system. Its depth of discharge is 80 per cent , voltage is 230v/120v & 240V AC 50/60Hz and has a 5yrs company warranty.
In VS’s client market overview survey, it is given that in the client Market Opportunity Rationale, value exists in the deployment of DER alternatives given customers’ willingness to pay for reliability (evidenced by tariffs for alternatives from N120 – N300/kWh as against client’s average tariff of N32/kWh). Clients stand to also benefit from duos charges.
Consequently, the client in partnership with Rural Electrification Agency (REA) conducted Energy Audit Market.
Following the completion of the Audit, the DER model is currently being developed with a project developer and 40 other sites have been profiled for development. Amongst the locations where VS is looking to build mini-grid solutions are Mavo and Toff in Plateau state. Ojumu, Lamu, Igbindu, Gbaleke and Erinla are situated in Ondo state.
The interconnected mini-grid is aimed at providing a reliable and affordable 1MwH of hybrid power solution with 0.73MWhrs of lithium-ion storage to SMEs in the Client Market Area. The solution will be deployed through three (3) independent hybrid PV solar systems of 450kWH, 350kWH and 200kWH to serve the 3 distinct segments of the market.

Amongst Solaris’ arrays of services also include Energy management system mobile app. The application details energy generation data from the various sources (Grid PV Generation of power dissipated into the Solaris Unit. The app has features such as daily generation data, PV generation; Grid, which refers to power generated from Solar PV panels in the Solaris unit. Daily generation data; refers to daily data gotten from all sources of power generation into the Solaris unit.
eration; refers to monthly data gotten from all sources of power generation into the Solaris unit.

To deepen its services further, Virtutis Solaris Limited is planning to go into a long-term contract with the Lagos State government to help rejuvenate the Power Distribution sector, with the implementation of Renewable and Energy Storage System for Hospitals, Theatres, schools, and Streetlights.
It embarked on improving the power sector in Nigeria by constructing renewable power generation plants for both national gridlines and large estates.

Moving to the FCT Abuja, the company is planning to go into a long-term contract with the FCT to help rejuvenate the power Distribution sector, with the implementation of Renewable and Energy Storage System losses in clustered underserved areas like markets, plazas, estates, etc.
Its overall strategy is to facilitate the development of solutions/business models which support the delivery of energy to augment grid supply and reduce losses in clustered underserved areas like markets, plazas, estates, etc.