Dr. Jafaru O. Mahmud is the managing director of NASENI Solar Energy Nigeria Limited (NSEL), the business venture of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). Innovation Nigeria Editor, Olamilekan Adefolarin in company of other newsmen recently had an interview session with the managing director to know developments about the firm. Mahmud spoke passionately with in-depth knowledge of the Nigeria power sector while appealing to both public and private sectors to take advantage of solar energy resource and capacities available in NSEL to do business and make profit. The interview was quite revealing.

Establishment of NASENI Solar Energy firm first of its kind in West Africa NASENI Solar Energy Limited (NSEL) is a product of research and development (R&Ds), it was in response to the cry that energy was not sufficient in the country at a time nobody particularly was doing anything to provide alternative nor contribution to improve and boost the energy required for technological, socio-political and economic development of the nation. In 2010, NASENI set up this place as Karshi Solar Manufacturing Company, that was what it was called then as an arm of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). Fortunately the current Executive Vice Chairman/CE (EVC/CE) Prof. Mohammed Haruna worked very hard toward the dream of making NASENI contribute to the energy mix through the production of alternative power supply for the nation. So there is the NASENI Small Hydro Power (SHP) and there is solar energy although the solar plant was actually meant to demonstrate practicability of solar energy production locally such that investors and venture capitalists will take up the responsibility to run it as business.

Initial Investors Apathy.
To some extent the private sector initially wouldn’t want to have anything to do with investment where they could not foresee immediate returns. So the EVC/CE observed that since venture capitalists were usually afraid to take risk except they see the figures, he directed in the first instance that we operated NSEL as a limited liability company and that was why in 2013 the former Solar Energy Manufacturing Company was incorporated as NASENI Solar Energy Limited. And when it was established, milestones were set such that investors would be able to understand the routes if they wish to get involved in solar energy production and distribution. So NSEL has continued with solar PV manufacturing and of course beginning first with Completely Knocked Down (CKD) but gradually local content started coming in and as at today the manpower is locally 100 percent while we have 23 percent local content in terms of raw materials. We have some local things which we are doing and it is no longer business as usual of just bringing solar parts from foreign countries and then we just assemble, no!

Domestic Economic Development, Job and Wealth Creation:
Because we are in tropical region where sun is easily accessible every day, the renewable energy resource like Solar if fully developed has the capacity to create millions of jobs for Nigerians. It will not only reduce unnecessary migration from rural to urban areas but also people will no longer develop excessive appetite to be in the city, even youth restiveness will be checked because a lot of people will have things to do in their rural communities. Our EVC/CE contributed significantly in the drafting of Federal Government’s Order-5 which was pronounced because he knew NASENI could offer solar solutions in the development of power sector. The Nigeria market is large and the country ought to become a hub for economic growth and development not just for West Africa but for Africa region.

Can big industries with Heavy Machinery run on Solar Energy ?
Yes, there is a dimension of solar deployment which we call captive solar power. For instance, you can run a tea processing, Yogurt and water factories exclusively on solar just to mention a few. You can get solar energy to power everything and your cost is recoverable within a short while because you are going to have consistency in power all year round. I think it makes economic sense to have power all year round. This will definitely show in production output, your clients and customers will have the assurance of continuously dealing with you because of constant supply to meet consumers’ demands.

Can the M.D boldly advise Government to stake her investment on power solely on Solar Energy?
Yes, with all assurances; it cannot fail. Solar is 100 percent the easiest form of energy to deploy. Solar energy is that energy which provides a balanced system altogether. For all other energy sources you need to go through a process. As an expert and practitioner I prescribe to Nigerians that solar can meet all our energy needs? Solar energy can provide one hundred percent energy for Nigeria because there is sun everywhere in the country.

Private Investors Interest in Off-Take of NASENI Solar Energy for Business:
It is part of the mandate of NASENI solar energy not just to produce or manufacture solar panel or just to build or develop solar solutions but also to motivate and assist investors who are willing to contribute to the solar energy sector to do business with it. I am happy to report that now there are private investors that are coming up and State governments also are getting involved in solar projects as our collaborators. A State government currently is at the verge of being an off-taker of NASENI solar.

What is NASENI Solar current full installed capacity or what level of Megawatts can NASENI Solar generate? The answer to this question is relative and when I say relative it is that power generation through solar is infinitum. If we are operating full blast at full patronage the megawatts we can generate becomes elastic. Whenever we have sufficient facilities more development and installed capacity will come. But much as it is difficult to estimate installed capacity, specifically as things stood now we can generate between 80 to 100 megawatts of solar electricity with three shifts per day, per week and all-round the year. Remember I said my estimation is relative if only we can secure the expected patronage from Nigerians, we could do more. To increase capacity all we need is to train more hands and bring more raw materials, then, the capacity for power will increase with every stage of training and utilisation of raw materials.

Challenges
We have so many challenges. The greatest challenge is patronage and lack of awareness of the potential of solar energy resource by Nigerians and that is why we are still doing target-production. But if we have the patronage, we should have been doing continuous production because we would no longer do target production. We can beat our chest in the industry to say that our products are the best across the country. I have been here since 2015; I will say that apart from patronage, we need more facilities. We need increase in operational finance and also government waivers to import solar related raw materials. But let me collapse all the challenges into one, no enough patronage. Because if there is patronage we can gradually develop to take care of ourselves as a company and therefore spread all over the country.

Product Certification
All NASENI Solar Energy panels and products are certified by MANCAP and are International Standard Organisation (ISO) compliant with patent certificates to back up product ingenuities.