Nigeria’s leading renewable energy association, the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) which comprises of leading operators in the country’s bourgeoning renewable energy market says it is considering merging with other renewable energy associations in the country to form a cohesive union that could develop the industry as a bloc.
Indicating it would be willing to collapse its structures to blend with and form a united platform with other associations in the industry, REAN stated that it had even begun conversations in this direction with one of the associations – the Renewable Energy Solution Providers of Nigeria (RESPON) and could soon announce a merger of both if talks end well.
Speaking at a recent summit organized by the Nigerian Renewable Energy Roundtable (NiRER) in Abuja, REAN’s president, Mr. Segun Adaju, explained the country’s nascent renewable energy industry could be better served with a big united body other than the many associations that exists in it.
Adaju, noted that the competition in the industry was still very low for it to have multiples of associations perhaps running at cross purposes. According to him, the industry could harness the potentials of the many associations into one single entity to quickly transition and help provide electricity to millions of Nigerians currently without electricity supplies at their homes and communities.
“It is possible but we need to drop our ego,” said Adaju in response to a question on how difficult it is for operators in the industry to merge into one single association.
He further stated: “REAN is talking to RESPON now to merge with it. That way we will become stronger and united. Really, it doesn’t make sense to have multiple bodies in this industry.
“We can come together and subject ourselves to a set of corporate governance ethics. There is no reason why we should have up to four associations now when we don’t even have enough members, and if we don’t do that (merge), we are not going to help this industry.”
At the moment, there are about four associations in Nigeria’s renewable energy industry, comprising of the Council for Renewable Energy Nigeria (CREN); Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria (SEPAN), RESPON and REAN.
In 2017, the World Bank stated that about 80 million Nigerians do not have access to modern electricity supplies. It also said it gave a $350 million loan to Nigeria for the development of rural electrification projects in the country.
With that, the government said it would by 2020, generate up to 3,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity through 10,000 mini grid projects to electrify communities in the country that are yet to get connected to the national grid.
