Renewable Energy: EU launches E30 million support
383144 08: A view of the power lines as evening settles December 11, 2000 in Pico Rivera, CA. California residents statewide are urged to delay turning on their holiday lights until 7 P.M. each evening to prevent electrical blackouts. Several stage two emergencies, when electrical reserves in the region drop to 5 percent or less, have been declared in recent days. (Photo by David McNew/Newsmakers)
The European Union (EU) has launched a 30 million Euro sustainable energy investment fund for off-grid solution development in the country. The fund, Electrification Financing Initiative, (ElectriFI,) would be granted to Renewable Energy (RE) under some criteria such as the viability of ideas with the ultimate aim of growing strategic movements to close the energy gap.
Head of EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ketil Karsen, who disclosed this at the 4th edition of Nigeria Energy Forum, (NEF,) in Lagos, tagged, ‘Upscaling Clean Energy for Sustainable Development’, said, finding the right mix to diversify Nigeria’s energy supply is important and has to be fueled by investments and infrastructure to give opportunities to entrepreneurs and developers in the sector. Retreating the EU’s commitment of past years in the sector. Karsen noted that the new fund comes after earlier support of a global window fund of 126 million Euros of which Nigeria was a beneficiary, however, the new money is solely a Nigerian window fund.
Chief Executive Officer, All On, Wiebe Boer, said the main problem of the energy sector is that for four decades, there haven’t been investments so the power gap is so huge and would need about 200 billion dollars to solve if it’s done from the top down approach. In related news, government agencies have been called upon to urgently intervene in stemming the sale of obsolete performance engine oils that have been flooding the Nigerian market for decades.
