Nigerian Breweries to establish Africa’s First Solar Powered Brewery

Nigerian Breweries to establish Africa’s First Solar Powered Brewery

Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB) are poised to become Nigeria's first solar powered brewery.This is after the company signed a Solar Power Purchase Agreement with CrossBoundary Energy Limited to construct the solar plant at the Ibadan branch of the brewery.

The 650 kW solar plant is scheduled to be operational this year.

Jordi Borrut Bel, Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc said “We are delighted to be a pioneer in the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria. The solar plant will help us to deliver on commitments under our Brewing a Better World initiatives and supporting Heineken’s global Drop the C program for renewable energy,” 

The Heineken’s global Drop the C program for renewable energy is targeted at increasing production-related energy retrieved from renewables from the present level of 14% to 70% by 2030.

The solar plant will supply 1 GWh of power annually to the Ibadan brewery at a huge discount to its current cost of power while cutting down the site’s CO2 emissions by more than 10,000 tonnes over the lifespan of the plant.

As part of the 15-year solar services agreements signed, CrossBoundary Energy will operate the rooftop facility of the brewery and Nigerian Breweries will only have to pay for the solar power generated, receiving a single monthly bill that contains all maintenance, monitoring, insurance and financing expenses.

The solar plant will generate jobs in the engineering, construction and maintenance sectors, while supporting the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s target of having 2,000MW of power capacity from renewables by 2020.

The renewable energy sector of Nigeria can provide much needed green jobs, harvest global capital, improve access to affordable and reliable power for enterprises, and enable Nigeria to meet its huge economic potential through financing packages such as those offered by CrossBoundary Energy.