The Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in collaboration with the Eko Innovation Centre has launched a Smart Meter Initiative tagged ‘The Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon 2020’.
Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon 2020 has been curated with a view to addressing the over 60percent metering gap in the State and Nigeria by leveraging local talent to create affordable smart electricity meters for consumers.
The solution, which is expected to enhance the supply of constant and stable electricity, improve last-mile electricity supply, prevent revenue leakage, and increase the trust people reposed in the authority, was launched by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba and other government officials at a virtual press conference.
Through the initiative, Lagos State Government is expected to leverage on bright local talents in the country to develop and produce affordable smart electricity meters for consumers.
An advisory board member of the Eko Innovation Centre, Doja Ekeruche, explained that a call for application had been sent out to local talents in the tech community to submit their proposed hardware and software solutions using the guidelines stipulated on the Lagos Smart Meter website.
She explained that all concepts would be assessed based on strict but transparent criteria; hinting that judges with knowledge and expertise within power and tech ecosystem will review the entries and shortlist teams to proceed to the Hackathon event.
Final winners of the Hackathon in both the hardware and software categories she said will win N7million. They will also be a part of the co-creation phase with other experts, and then proceed to the production and testing stage before the full commercialisation of the smart meter.
