From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Nigeria and a United States firm have signed agreements on clean, reliable electricity, on the sidelines of the ongoing, US-Africa leadership summit
A statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the agreement was signed at the US-Africa Business Forum (USABF) in Washington, D.C on Wednesday.
Over 30 million Nigerians are expected to benefit from the project that is to be constructed in different phases across the six geopolitical zones and will provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity. The Federal Government signed the agreement with the U.S firm, Sun Africa LLC, the largest US renewable energy company operating in Africa.
He disclosed that the agreement is for the development and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) implementation framework for the construction of 5,000 MW of solar generation and 2,500 MWh of battery energy storage power plants for up to $10 billion investment from the US government. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo who stood in for Nigeria and Adam Cortese, CEO for Sun Africa, for the implementing firm, in the presence of Amos Hochstein, President Joe Biden’s Special Presidential Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
Garba recalled that on Tuesday, December 13, President Muhammadu Buhari had declared that “As part of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, we set the vision 30:30:30 which aims at achieving 30GW of electricity by 2030 with renewable energy contributing 30% of the energy mix” in the presence of President Biden and the world leaders, and sought the United States’ support to achieve it.”