KARU – An UNDP official said on Friday three communities in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, are to benefit from the Global Environment Facility – United Nations Development Programme (GEF-UNDP) on energy efficiency.
Mr Etiosa Uyigue, the National Project Coordinator of GEF-UNDP project, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Roguwa community of Karu, after a workshop to sensitise members of the three communities to the project.
According to Uyigue, the three communities, namely: Roguwa, Upper Uke and Lower Uke – will benefit from the GEF-UNDP project, which is aimed at boosting residents’ access to energy.
“It is part of the climate change mitigation; two principle ways to mitigate climate change is to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.
“Now why Solar? You have access the resources that are most available; so, that determines the type of technology you will use to generate electricity.
“In this part, we are very close to the equator and the solar regime in the equatorial region is very high.
“In Nigeria we only have few places where the wind speed is high, in some part of the North and coast.
“So, that is why are not looking at the wind option.“
Uyigue said that the installation of solar panels for the pilot project would start in third week of August.
He said that at least 50 solar panels would be installed in strategic locations in the three benefiting communities.
He said that the solar panels would generate at least seven kilowatt for the households in those communities. [eap_ad_1] According to him, the project will generate four kilowatt in Upper Uke and Lower Uke respectively and three kilowatt in Roguwa.
He said that the project had inbuilt mechanism to ensure its sustainability.
According to him, a Local Energy Regulatory Committee (LERC) with gender balance will be set up to maintain the project.
The project coordinator said that the community leadership would be allowed to nominate individuals that would serve as the committee members.
Uyigue explained that the committee members would be given further training on how to maintain and install solar panels.
“The sustainability of any project is best done by the benefiting community.
“All over the world, we have seen that to sustain any project, the sustainability must come from the benefiting community because it is their project.
“And because it is something that they need and it is useful to them, they will want it to continue.
“That is why in this model we are now making the benefiting community to sustain the project instead of waiting for an external force to sustain it.“
Uyigue said that the committee members would ensure that users of the borehole that would be installed along with the facility paid for the water they would be getting.
“The committee members can then use proceeds from this to maintain the facility.
“In Roguwa community, a metering device called “Current Limiter” will be installed in each benefiting household. This is to ensure that community members pay for the electricity they use.
“It will also prevent them from drawing more current than what has been allocated to each household.
“Also, LERC members would be responsible for managing the facility from the sale of the electricity on behalf of the community.“ (NAN)
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