Bestman Uwadia is the Chairman/CEO of Afrinergia Power Limited, Nigerias premier on-grid solar plant development firm. Uwadia is a seasoned Entrepreneur with over 30 years of engineering and business ownership experience.

He is one of the pioneer Information Technology service providers to businesses and individuals in Northern Nigeria. He is a certified network engineer with training from reputable institutions across the world. His commitment and consistent approach to problem-solving have been a driving force to the realization of three of Africas largest renewable projects.

“We started Afrinergia in 2015 when the Nigerian government decided to open up the renewable space, and we happen to be among the 14 companies that made the final cut in signing the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Electricity Bulk Trading Plc (NBET); the company responsible for buying power from generation companies to distribution companies. At the end of the day, only two companies met the requirements of the PPA and they were subsequently given sub-sovereign guarantees to kick-off. One of those companies is Afrinergia Power Limited, while the other is a sister company called CT Cosmos Limited for which I am also the CEO”, he informed.

Describing the Nigerian power sector as one which is not for the faint-hearted to invest, Uwadia has remained resolute in his resolve to be a major player in the deployment of renewable energy towards reducing electricity deficit across the country. According to him, renewable energy is the quickest and cheapest source of power that can be made available to the Nigerian populace.

He said, “I just hope that the government will give it more attention to make it reliable, because all over the world, people are going renewable. In fact, the whole of Europe rely on renewable energy and Nigeria is blessed with a lot of radiation from the sun than most of these European nations. If we deploy solar panels in every state, the problem of electricity will be solved. I have held discussions with most of the agencies in the power sector, but it is obvious that we are not ready, however, the last few months has been encouraging given the assurance we are getting from the federal government, so we can only hope for the best.”

Commenting on the hurdles preventing investors from playing in the renewable energy industry in Nigeria, Uwadia lamented the underfunding of the off-taker which is the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc as a major challenge that has discouraged foreign investors. “With the deregulation of the power sector, there are three entities which are primarily responsible for what happens in the electricity space. We have the generation companies (GenCos), distribution companies (DisCos), and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) where the federal government has control.

“The first challenge is that there is no viable off-taker that will buy the power generated by the GenCos. It is not as if there is no off-taker, NBET that should play this role is not adequately capitalized. Presently, the company is having problem paying for the energy generated and this situation is discouraging foreign investors from deploying in Nigeria, but as we continue to progress, and as NBET strive to play its role better with the current reforms towards enhancing last mile distribution, as well as collection and deployment of meters, I believe it will get better overtime”, he said.

Speaking further, he emphasizes on the need to generate electricity though solar energy as a cheap alternative. According to him, solar power was 68 cents per kilowatt hour ten years ago, while in 2016, it was 11 and a half cents. “As at 2018, it was seven and a half cents. Hopefully, in the next two years, maybe it will come to five cents or three cents, which means that electricity is going to get cheaper, and solar will become very reliable”, he added.

Uwadia’s achievement in the renewable energy space cannot be underestimated. At Present, Afrinergia is developing a 50 megawatts installation, while its sister company, CT Cosmos is also developing a 70 megawatt installation, which when combined will make him the largest solar energy developer in sub Saharan Africa. “In total, we are coming up with 120 megawatts which makes us the biggest renewable energy developer in sub Saharan Africa. Aside that, we have also developed a 100 megawatts wind farm project in Jos”, he informed.

With a lot of developments coming up in the solar energy space, he emphasized on the need for governments commitment in a bid to have a significant contribution from renewable energy to the national grid. “If the government takes a serious stand in tackling the issue of electricity through renewable energy, then maybe in the next five to ten years, we can boost of contributing a significant amount of electricity via renewables”, he said.