Nigeria acquires land for 2000MW solar plant based on Moroccan model

Nigeria has acquired a huge tract of land in Jigawa state where it would site a massive solar power plant using the Moroccan model, BusinessDay reports.

Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria’s minister of Power, Works and Housing, disclosed this on February 24 during a presentation at the 2017 BusinessDay National Economic Outlook conference held at Eko Hotel & Suites.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing alongside the Minister of Budget and National Planning and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment all convened to speak on the challenges facing the Nigerian economy and the way forward.

Morocco is building one of the world’s biggest solar power plants on the edge of the Sahara desert, in a project largely funded by the European Union. The Noor plant first phase is expected to generate 580 MW, enough power for a city of almost 2 million people. Morocco aims to expand at other desert regions to 2 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2020 at a cost of $9 billion.

The proposed solar plant follows the signing of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) last year between the Nigerian Electricity Bulk Trading Plc (NBET) and 14 solar energy firms to the tune of  $2.5 billion and which Fashola described as the largest investment in the sector ever.