Bulk Trader, Oriental Group Sign Purchase Agreement on Solar Power

Ejiofor Alike

Oriental Renewable Solutions, a subsidiary of the Oriental Group company, has signed a 20- year, dollar-denominated Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), better known as Bulk Trader for a 50-megawat capacity solar power project in Jigawa State.

The agreement forms part of a wider NBET process to sign up PPA’s to deliver 1,200 megawatts 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. The 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 signing of the PPA, Oriental Group Chairman Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi said the project marked a major milestone for the Oriental Group, as the company implements its 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,” Indimi explained.

Nigeria has installed generation capacity of 12, 600 megawatts, but availability of considerably less than that, and average transmission of between 3,000MW and 4,500MW 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, founded by Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi and which has a portfolio of assets across the oil and gas, power, manufacturing and education sectors of the economy.