Kano state is to benefit from a 60-megawatt solar power plant under the Nigeria-Germany Energy Partnership, coordinated by the National Energy Council, says a presidential aide.
Alhaji Ibrahim Njidda, the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Energy Partnerships, disclosed this on Saturday when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Rabi’u Kwankwaso in Kano.
Njidda said that the project was borne out of the desire to tap the abundant solar energy in the northern part of the country.
“We discovered that for us to have energy, we should not wait for the future gas line project which is supposed to come from Calabar to Kano.
“We do not know how long it will take for that particular project to materialise as has been envisaged in the Gas Master Plan project of the country,” he said.
He explained that it was because of this that the National Energy Council and the Nigeria-German Energy Partnership came up with the project.
According to him, the project is based on a scientific investigation which indicated substantial solar radiation in all the northern states.
According to Njidda, the project is initially a pilot one, consisting of 30 megawatts solar plant for each of the selected states in the country.
The special assistant explained that based on an earlier meeting with the Gov. Kwankwaso, it was agreed that Kano would require two plants with a total capacity of 60 megawatts.
He said that the project would go a long way to stimulate economic growth of the state, thereby creating employment opportunities.
In his remarks, Kwankwaso said that his administration would do its best to actualise the project.
He expressed the hope that the state would be the first beneficiary and that it would be of immense benefit to it and the country at large.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that representatives of Nigeria-German Energy Partnership, the National Energy Council and the Secretary to Kano State Government, Alhaji Rabi’u Bichi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to signal the commencement of the project. (NAN)