UNDP, GEF Move To Implement Renewable Energy Project

As part of measures by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) to promote energy
efficiency in Nigeria, Schneiber Electric has been selected to implement a
renewable energy project at the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN’s)
headquarters building in Abuja.

The project which is aimed at showcasing the ECN’s building
as a model for public lighting using renewable energy would include the
replacement of all non-compliant lighting fixtures in the building with
Schneider Electric’s energy efficient LED Lamps, In-Diga.

It will also include the installation of Schneider
Electric’s off grid energy solution, villasol, as well as an upgrade of the
building’s electrical distribution network to include metering so that the
energy consumption of the building can be measured from then.

Speaking at the event in Abuja, the country president of
Schneider Electric, Mr. Marcet Hochet, described the project as a landmark
development in the sensitisation of the general pulic on the feasibility and
benefits of energy efficient lamps.

He said the global specialist in Energy Management,
Schneider Electric was committed to bringing to the project, its enormous
wealth of experience and knowhow to ensure timely completion.

He, therefore, stated that Schneider Electric was strongly
committed to helping people make the most of their energy. This involves making
the energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and most of all, green.

“Our fully functional renewable energy project in Asore,
Ogun State is a testimony to Schneider Electric’s involvement in renewables
industry in Nigeria”, he explained.

Also speaking at the event, the national coordinator of the
UNDP – GEF Programme, Mr. Etiosa Uyigue disclosed that the project’s target was
to reduce the building’s consumption by up to 50 per cent thereby creating an
energy efficiency best practice for others to follow.

The Director-General of the ECN, Prof. Sambo, who gave a
presentation during the event, highlighted that the key barriers to successful
energy efficiency practice in Nigeria include lack of relevant policy, cost
versus market ratio, lack of information as well as wrong human behaviour.

He reiterated that projects that help save energy,
eventually save the environment as well as the economy.

In May 2011, UNDP – GEF in Nigeria launched an energy
efficiency project to promote appliances in the residential and public sector,
which had earlier been boosted by $3 million grant in 2009.

The four-year project is being implemented by the UNDP,
while the federal Ministry of Environment and Energy Commission of Nigeria are
among the executing partners of the project that is being funded by GEF.
Similar projects have recorded success stories in countries like Ghana, Cuba
and Bangladesh.