Stakeholders in Nigeria’s power and renewable energy sector have urged the country to move beyond rapid deployment of energy projects and adopt a coordinated, lifecycle-based approach that integrates technology, enforceable standards, and a skilled workforce to ensure long-term reliability and sustainability.
The call was made in Abuja during the Nextier Power Dialogue, hosted by The Electricity Hub and held virtually under the theme “Improving Standardisation and Maintenance for Energy Access and Sustainability.”
The forum brought together regulators, developers, policy experts, and market practitioners to examine persistent weaknesses in Nigeria’s decentralised energy systems, particularly mini-grids.
Panellists at the session included Habiba Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Sosai Renewable Energies; Chimaobi Omeye, Regional Coordinator for West and Central Africa at the Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA); Chinedu Ogoilegbune, Infrastructure Consultant at Nextier; and sustainability and infrastructure policy specialist Adanne Wadibia-Anyawu.
Participants agreed that many failures in mini-grids and other decentralised energy systems stem not from a single fault, but from cumulative weaknesses across design, component quality, installation, environmental exposure, and inadequate maintenance planning.
They noted that Nigeria’s energy sector has historically prioritised project installation, often leaving long-term maintenance responsibilities unclear after commissioning. However, speakers observed a gradual shift toward lifecycle thinking, driven by tighter regulatory frameworks, results-based financing programmes, and more rigorous safety and inspection requirements.
Discussions emphasised the need for early and continuous engagement between project developers and regulators, rather than treating compliance as a last-minute exercise. Inspection, testing, and certification were described as essential risk-management tools, not bureaucratic obstacles.
Speakers stressed that accountability must be shared across the value chain, with regulators enforcing standards, developers complying with them, financiers prioritising system uptime and safety, and procurement entities insisting on certified components and qualified personnel.
From a commercial standpoint, panellists argued that maintenance must be embedded in project revenue models rather than treated as an afterthought. Poor maintenance culture, dispersed rural assets, and tariff structures focused mainly on capital recovery were identified as major threats to system reliability.
Effective solutions discussed included portfolio-level operations and maintenance models, maintenance-as-a-service providers, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance tools, and financing mechanisms that tie payments to system performance and uptime.
A major concern raised during the dialogue was the growing skills gap in Nigeria’s renewable energy sector. Panellists warned that rapid technological advances—such as AI-enabled system design, remote monitoring platforms, firmware upgrades, and electric mobility—risk outpacing the capabilities of technicians and installers if continuous training is not prioritised.
In closing, panellists agreed that sustainable energy access should be measured not by the speed of deployment, but by the longevity, safety, and reliability of systems over time.
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