Solar power generation has risen dramatically in the last few years to about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s electricity supply and could reach 50 per cent by 2029 if current deployment and private-sector partnerships continue, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) said.
REA managing director, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, revealed this on Thursday, saying during the just concluded 25th Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja.
Speaking during an energy panel titled, “Re-Engineering Africa’s Power Market – Driving Reliable Energy Systems”
Aliyu said Solar’s share of national generation has risen rapidly and that sustained momentum would push it toward half of the country’s power mix within the next two to three years.
Aliyu said the growth was driven by increasing deployment and stronger collaboration with private investors.
He said: “Solar currently constitutes 20 per cent of the nation’s total generation capacity, and with the pace of deployment we are seeing, it is closing in on 50 per cent.”
The REA chief told delegates that Nigeria was shifting from being primarily a consumer of clean-energy equipment to becoming a regional supplier of renewable technology.
He said manufacturers in the Lagos–Sagamu industrial corridor were building capacity to meet demand across West Africa.
Aliyu said Lagos-made solar photovoltaic (PV) panels were already being exported to neighbouring countries.
He added that a pipeline of about 3.7 gigawatts of PV manufacturing capacity was under development to support further expansion.
“If you go to the Lagos–Sagamu axis, you will see manufacturing companies coming up,” he said.
While noting the rapid expansion in solar deployment and local manufacturing, REA and industry representatives cautioned that conventional gas-fired thermal plants would remain necessary to stabilise Nigeria’s grid.
Another panellist, managing director and CEO of Transafam Power Limited, Vincent Ozoude, said gas was needed to manage the intermittency of renewables and to stabilise supply for a growing population.
He warned that without adequate gas-fired capacity, gains from renewable investments could be reversed. He said: “The fluctuations in renewables make gas-fired thermal plants the quick fix to stabilising the baseline of the grid. If the gas-fired plants are not there today, no matter how much renewable investment we’re doing, we’ll go backwards.”
Panelists called for a dual-track investment strategy that would continue to expand solar generation and domestic manufacturing while also maintaining and upgrading gas-fired plants.
They urged the federal government and private investors to adopt coordinated policies and financing to support both tracks.
Speakers also recommended investments in grid infrastructure to ensure the new generation reaches consumers. They urged the deployment of digitalised smart-grid systems for real-time power dispatch and the construction of additional high-voltage transmission lines to prevent newly generated electricity from becoming stranded.
The panelists said that combining expanded solar capacity, sustained gas support, and improved transmission and digital controls would be necessary to turn increased generation into a reliable supply for millions of households across Nigeria.