OR Solutions, NBET Sign 50MW Jigawa Power Purchase Agreement

Oriental Renewable Solutions (Oriental), an Oriental Group company, has signed a 20 year, dollar denominated Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Bulk Energy Trader (“NBET”) for the company’s 50MW solar power project in Jigawa State.

The agreement forms part of a wider NBET process to sign up PPA’s to deliver 1.2GW of additional generation capacity to the Nigerian grid through a total of 12 solar power projects spread across Nigeria.

Oriental Renewable Solutions was established to deliver on the potential that renewable energy offers Nigeria to address a long term power deficit that continues to hold back economic growth.

Jigawa project marks the first project in a broader strategy to establish a significant footprint in Nigeria’s fast emerging solar power generation segment. The project is expected to be completed between 18 and 24 months of financial close.

Commenting on the signature of the PPA, Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi, Oriental group chairman said: “This marks a major milestone for the Oriental Group, as we implement our strategy to diversify into new areas of the Nigerian economy. We recognise the importance of power generation to Nigeria’s socio-economic development and believe that Nigeria’s natural resources extend beyond its traditional dependence on oil and gas extraction to include many more resources that new technology is making available to us. We hope that by proving the viability of renewable solutions in Nigeria, we can deepen our nation’s long term capability to deliver the power that we so desperately need, while simultaneously delivering much needed investment across a swathe of Northern Nigeria.”

Nigeria has installed generation capacity of 12.6GW, but availability of considerably less than that, and average transmission of between 3 and 4.5GW of the last year.

This is further affected by disruption to gas supply, on which the vast majority of Nigeria’s power infrastructure relies. The development of significant generation capacity in solar, and other renewables offers a strong counterbalance to the vulnerability of gas production and distribution infrastructure, while significantly reducing Nigeria’s long term carbon footprint.

Oriental Renewable Solutions was established in 2014 as an investment vehicle to develop power projects in Nigeria’s emerging renewables market segment. It is a subsidiary of the Oriental Group of companies.

The Oriental Group of companies was founded by Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi and has a portfolio of assets across the oil and gas, power, manufacturing and education sectors of the economy.