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United States Embassy
Abuja, Nigeria
Africa

Solar Replaces Unreliable Fossil Fuel-based Heating

Electricity is a precious resource in almost all West African countries, where black-outs are routine due to little investment and maintenance, leaving an infrastructure creaking at the seams. Nigeria, a prime example, operates at one-third of its installed capacity due to aging equipment and it relies heavily on highly-pollutant, privately held diesel generators for back-up power.

For the United States Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, project managers wanted to strive toward self-sufficiency, relying less on utilities unable to meet demand.  Solar water heating reduces the use of fossil fuel-based electricity and covers up to 90% of a building’s hot water needs. Designed by TCT partner, Solar Direct, the system succeeded in reducing the overall system load as well as the minimum size of the compound’s independent power plant.

Twenty units of TCT Solar’s ProgressivTube® PT-50 ICS solar water heaters with one electric back-up storage tank system were put into use to cover the building’s mixed-use water heating requirements including 190 offices, a cafeteria and five live-in apartments for visitors. These collectors produce 296 gallons of hot water per hour, completely eliminating the need for 168 KWH/day of electricity from the utility company.

From Wood Fuel to Renewables

In early 2008, Nigeria launched the Nigerian Renewable Energy Master Plan to develop renewable energy resources.  Plans call for implementation of 2,945 MW of wind, solar PV, solar thermal, small-scale hydro and biomass by 2025.  This amount is roughly equivalent to the entire capacity for Nigeria today.

Still a developing economy, Nigeria’s Renewable Energy Plan is targeting 500,000 jobs over the next 10 years, created for renewable energy.  The plan will also be addressing the estimated $1 Billion per year in Nigerian business losses associated with the country’s unstable power supply.

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