The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammad Sani Haruna, yesterday said the agency has embarked on a $325,860,690 Solar Cells Production Plant to make power cheaper and affordable.
He said the plant is a game changer in the nation’s energy sector.
He said although the agreement for the production plant was initially signed in July 2013, the intervention of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo made the project take off.
He said the agency’s goal was to use science, technology, innovation, and engineering to advance local content interventions in power sector reforms.
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Haruna made the disclosures in an address at the foundation laying for NASENI Solar Cells Production Plant in Gora, Nasarawa State.
He said the commencement of the plant signalled the implementation of one of the three projects contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NASENI and the China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC).
“When fully commissioned, the price of per watt of solar power supply will be cheap enough to be affordable to everyone and it is a game changer in energy and power supply industry as well as industrial development of Nigeria.
Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Osinbajo said the measure was a proactive effort aimed at placing Nigeria within the ranks of countries pushing the boundaries in the use of climate-smart alternative energy sources, particularly solar power.
Prof Osinbajo said the development was one of the Federal government’s steps to ensure that NASENI gets the 1 percent of the federation account annually as prescribed by its founding law.
According to him, solar cells are critical to the entire solar energy value chain, because they determine the sensitivity of solar panels to trap and accumulate solar energy from the sun.
