20-year Life Span Solar Energy System Enters Nigeria

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Infrastructural challenges facing rural communities in the country may have become a thing of the past, as a solar energy system with a 20-year-life span arrives in the country.

According to the Managing Director, E-Cube, Ilan Lugassy, the solar energy is to provide an alternative solution to an expensive billion naira electricity grid projects which might not be feasible in the next two decades as the case may be.

The solar energy named E-Cube is an Isreali concept which provides young Nigerians opportunities to learn and come up with smart ideas which can be transformed into actual products.

Lugassy said the E-Cube can be mounted in three days and it is mobile, adding that the E-Cube is in Nigeria to help provide electricity to communities which will in turn boost access to good health, drinking water, e-learning, community centre and agricultural productivity, among others.

He said the concept supports the participation of community people in improving their economic, social and environmental lives, cooperating with the other communities, social innovations and development of smart money strategies.

According to Lugassy, “The concept we are discussing is E-Cube smart village, but actually what we are trying to emphasise is the main challenge in Nigeria and all the emerging countries as the population of 1.2 billion have no access to electricity.

“The E-Cube can last for 20 years with close to zero maintenance. We are going to create jobs, transfer knowledge as everything will be controlled from Nigeria. So by this, when the knowledge is transferred to Nigerians, Nigeria will be able to transfer the solutions to other African countries.”

“E-Cube is a concept that was designed and developed for communities between 300-500 persons and we are giving them a communication centre, e-learning, telemedicine.

“When we talk about telemedicine, we are talking about a remote Primary Health Care, PHC. It means that if the E-Cube solar energy is sitting within a small clinic in whatever village, the people can enjoy treatment from a doctor sitting in Abuja, Katsina. We can get the best doctors to give the best services. On Monday, the doctor can give advice for five hours in communities in Kaduna, Abuja etc.

“What we are giving here is a livelihood to the people and sustainability. We are going to work with innov8 hub as we are business people but it is more about giving to the community. We want to contribute to the community,” he said.

The inauguration of the E-Cube Smart Village in Abuja was done during the week in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs 2030.

The E-Cube is aimed at helping to sustain SDGs 1 (No poverty), SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), SDGs 3 (Good health and well-being), SDGs 4 (Quality education); SDGs 5 (Quality equality); SDGs 6 (Clean water and sanitation) and SDGs 7 (Affordable and clean energy).