The Nigerian state of Lagos’ government, in collaboration with UK’s Department for International Funding and Development (DFID) is working to bring off-grid solar to the region. The Lagos state government has begun to implement its plans to power schools, hospitals, and rural sites with off-grid solar power.
The plan follows audits by the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB) into the energy needed for the 655 schools and more than 270 primary health centers (PHCs) in the region. The results of those surveys indicated a heavy reliance on power obtained through fossil fuel generation: 84% of the PHCs in the state used diesel generators to augment power from the national grid. The audit revealed that 14 of the PHCs had no power supply at all.
The LSEB audit concluded, “Our public secondary schools are not spared the national grid’s inadequacies as most are being supplied by public transformers. Therefore the schools augment their power supply with the help of a total of 991 small- to medium-sized generators accounting for a total capacity of 6.7 MW. After extensive data analysis and interpretation, the LSEB recommends solar energy to power critical loads (admin and labs) in each school. Critical loads account for almost 60% of the energy demand in each school and can be defined as the barest minimum power that the school requires in order to operate effectively. Solar energy is fit for purpose in this case as Lagos State public secondary schools hardly use cooling appliances such as air conditioners. The proposed solar solution will require 6.7 MW of solar power derived from 11.7 MWp of installed capacity.â€
As reported previously on www.ae-africa.com, the project broke ground in early-January with the launch of a 10-KW solar installation at the Epe maternity hospital, followed by a 15-KW system coming online at the Lagos State Senior Model College Meiran. According to the LSEB 32 schools, plus one hospital, have already had panels installed under the program.
Schools in Lagos state will see between 5 KW and 15 KW of solar power depending on the need, while hospital systems will be either 10 KW or 25 KW.
The project is being conducted over three stages. The first phase began with the Epe maternity hospital and the largest 32 school systems, and is slated to end in February. The second phase will cover 10 hospitals and is expected to be completed by May. Phase III will focus on 170 schools and is expected to finish by July.