1st Solar Cell Production Factory In West Africa

• Nigeria is building a solar cell production facility which it says will be the 1^st in West Africa
• It is being built by government's NASENI that is cooperating with China's CGWIC for the cell plant
• NASENI is already operating a 21 MW module manufacturing fab that was originally established as a 7.5 MW factory

Nigerian Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo recently laid foundation ceremony for a solar cell manufacturing plant of unidentified capacity in the country's Gora region and called it the 1^st solar cell production factory in West Africa.

Nigeria's National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) had established 7.5 MW solar panel production fab 10 years back through NASENI Solar Energy Limited (NSEL), whose capacity has now been expanded to 21 MW.

NSEL is partnering with China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) for the solar cell fab.

"The major raw material requirements for the production of Solar cells – silicon and silica – are naturally occurring in abundance in this area," said Osinbajo. "In due course, this will in turn attract new investment, local and foreign, for the establishment of solar panel manufacturing plants across Nigeria."

Earlier the federal government had reached an agreement with Katsina State to set up an institute to harness silica deposits for the production of solar cells in Katsina.

Under the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan, Nigeria aims to achieve decarbonization by 2060 and universal energy access by 2030. It also projects an increase in the use of solar power in the Nigerian energy mix, surpassing even gas by 2035.