Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB) and CrossBoundary Energy have announced the signing of Heineken’s first solar project in Africa. CrossBoundary Energy will be installing and operating a 650kW solar plant located at NB’s Ibadan Brewery, the solar energy plant will become operational in 2019. 

The landmark project is the first of its kind for Nigeria – a fully-financed solar Power Purchase Agreement for a major Nigerian business customer. CrossBoundary Energy will operate the rooftop facility on behalf of Nigerian Breweries as part of a 15-year solar services agreement. Under the agreement, NB will only pay for solar power produced, receiving a single monthly bill that incorporates all maintenance, monitoring, insurance and financing costs.

The solar plant will supply 1GWh annually to the Ibadan brewery at a significant discount to their current cost of power, while reducing the site’s CO2 emissions by over 10,000 tonnes over the lifespan of the plant.

Jordi Borrut Bel, Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc stated;

“We are delighted to be a pioneer in the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria. The solar plant will help power our world-class brewery in Ibadan, enabling us to deliver on commitments under our ‘Brewing a Better World’ initiatives and supporting Heineken’s global ‘Drop the C’ programme for renewable energy.”

 Heineken’s Drop the C programme for renewable energy aims to grow its share of production related energy sourced from renewables from the current level of 14% to 70% by 2030. “NB’s Brewing a Better World initiative has further targeted a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030”, according to Martin Kochl, Supply Chain Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc.

Femi Fadugba, Head of Business Development for CrossBoundary Energy said:

“We’re excited to be helping Nigerian Breweries go solar and to be providing the site with cleaner, cheaper power with no upfront investment or technical risk. I’m also proud that this flagship project – the first of its kind in Nigeria – will be launched in my family’s hometown of Ibadan.”

CrossBoundary Energy has commissioned TPN to design and build the plant as well as performing operations and maintenance immediately after commissioning. Ruud van Milligen, General Manager for TPN said:

“We are grateful that we, as an Energy Solutions partner for Nigerian Breweries, and CrossBoundary Energy can contribute to the renewable goals of Nigerian Breweries with our custom-made energy solutions and best-in-class operations and maintenance operations.”

The plant will support the local employment of at least a dozen engineering, construction and maintenance professionals during installation and the 25+ year lifetime of the system, while supporting the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) target of having 2,000MW of power capacity from renewables by 2020.

Through financing packages like the one being offered by CrossBoundary Energy, Nigeria’s renewable energy sector can provide much-needed green jobs, tap global capital, improve access to affordable, reliable power for businesses, and enable Nigeria to fulfil its enormous economic potential. Support for the project has come from Shell Foundation and the Solar Nigeria programme, an initiative implemented by Adam Smith International with funding from UK Aid.