Nasarawa Inaugurates First Solar Project

Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, yesterday inaugurated the first Solar Hybrid Minigrid (SHM) installed in Rukubi community of the state by Husk Power System (HPS).

Sule also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for giving the project the seriousness it deserved.

He thanked the HPS for coming up with the initiative to benefit humanity and consequently partnering with the federal government, the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank and of course the Nasarawa State.

The governor said: “These are perfectly in line with the mission of this government. And that is why since you (HPS) came, we have taken your project serious and I said I will come and commission this project myself because I believed in this project. And I want to make sure that people benefit from it.

“I want to call on the Rukubi community leaders to protect this project jealously. Maintenance of it, government will come into that. But the only way you can protect the project is to protect those who are handling it.”

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the HPS, Mr. Manoj Sinha, said that the HPS was committed to installing 25 minigrids in the state of Nasarawa.

Sinha continued that the company was also committed to installing 500 minigrids in Nigeria by the year 2026.

He said: “Earlier this year, His Excellency, Governor Sule, reaffirmed his commitment to boosting agriculture in Nasarawa State, which is accounting to approximately 80 percent of livelihood in the state. We are committed to furthering that goal because we are already looking for solar water irrigation pumps.

“We are looking for irrigation that will connect to our minigrid. We are also looking over installing agro processing unit. HPS is here to participate in the socio-economic development of Rukubi community and the state.”