Two Energy Experts Warn Nigeria’s Haste to Ban Solar Panels Imports. Call Move Risky
Two experts in electricity and renewable energy have expressed reservations over the planned ban on importation of solar panels by the Nigeria’s federal government.
In separate engagements with the media both Walter Nnaji, a former minister of energy and Deborah Fadeyi, a 12-year veteran in energy and sustainability, said the ban would be premature as Nigeria lacks capacity to develop solar panels domestically.
Fadeyi who worked across the aerospace, utilities, and waste sectors before founding Vector Energy, a solar start-up, now active in over 20 states, warns that “the federal government’s decision to ban solar panel imports is premature and risky.
Local production, she warned, simply can not meet the scale of demand, she says.
She emphasized that” Nigeria needs to expand its solar capacity to 10 gigawatts by 2030, “yet the only operational manufacturing plant in Lagos produces less than 20 megawatts — barely a fraction of what’s needed”, she revealed.
Cutting off imports at this stage, she added, will spike prices, push consumers toward black market alternatives, and destabilise a sector that’s just beginning to gain momentum.
Fadeyi also said though “local manufacturing sounds great in theory, but in practice, Nigeria is not ready. We lack the infrastructure, research capacity, and affordable energy needed to make solar panel production viable at scale”.
On his part, the former minister and now chairman of his own energy firm, Geometric Power Limited, said there is need for transition period before placing a ban on solar panels importation.
Professor Bart Nnaji, advised that “the federal government (need) to allow a transition period before placing a ban on the importation of solar panels”.
Nnaji also doubted that renewable energy, especially in terms of solar, would provide an immediate solution to Nigeria’s perennial power challenges.
He therefore, advised the government to capitalise on the abundance of natural gas resources in the country to address Nigeria’s power problems while encouraging investments in other sources of energy.
Nnaji said, “Let me say that the very idea of producing goods for our consumption is always good to me. But do we have the capacity to produce solar panels to support what we want in Nigeria? I am not sure that we are there yet. So, probably a transition period is required.
“I do not think that the immediate banning of importation of solar panels would get us there.
“I also believe that solar energy or renewable energy is not going to be the immediate solution.
“We have an abundance of natural gas. We should capitalise on its abundance to build power plants while at the same time encouraging the building of solar plants.”