Phanes to co-develop 300 MW of Nigerian solar projects

Dubai-headquartered solar developer Phanes Group said Thursday it has acquired the development rights over three photovoltaic (PV) schemes in Nigeria with a combined capacity of 300 MW.

Each of the grid-connected, ground-mounted solar parks will be able to generate 100 MW They will be located at three different sites -- the Mando area of Kaduna, Birnin-Kebbi in Kebbi and Sokoto in the North-West of Nigeria.

Phanes’s Sokoto facility will be one of the 14 projects, totalling 1,200 MW, to benefit from the recently signed government power purchase agreements (PPA) with utility-scale solar developers. The first 50-MW phase of the North-West Nigerian scheme is expected to be hooked to the grid as early as the first quarter of 2018, with the entire project due for completion by end-2018.

The Kebbi and Kaduna PV projects will be executed by Hasken-Rana, which is a joint venture (JV) between Phanes Group and its Nigerian partners. The two facilities will be completed by the end of 2019.

The country aims to operate a 2,000-MW renewables portfolio by 2020. “Nigeria’s policymakers have worked proactively to address the nation’s immediate and long-term electrification challenges through the introduction of attractive clean energy policies, and we are beginning to see the fruits of those policies,” Phanes CEO Martin Haupts said.

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