Challawa solar plant, located close to the Challawa Industrial Estate, in the Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano State is Nigeria’s largest solar plant.

Capacity: 10MW
Panels: 21,000
Transformers: Two 6MVA
Land area: 24 hectares

The solar plant comprises over 21,000 solar PV panels, two 6MVA transformers, 52 inverters, and a 12km evacuation infrastructure.

Sitting on a 24 Hectare parcel of land, solar power plant and associated 12km energy evacuation infrastructure is the largest utility-scale solar farm in Nigeria.

The country’s largest grid-connected solar power plant is a 10MW farm that gulped US$16 million.

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) – an investment institution that manages excess proceeds from the federation’s budgeted hydrocarbon revenues – was appointed as the project developer.  NSIA awarded the EPC contract for the plant to a consortium that included a local company, Eauxwell Nigeria Limited, and their international partner Greencells Energy Middle East & Africa Ltd.

The project was implemented by Haske Solar Company Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) jointly owned by the federal government of Nigeria (80%), the Kano state government (15%), and the Kumbotso local government area (5%).

 – Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) completed the development and construction of a 10MW solar farm in the Kumbotso Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Kano State Government, and Kumbotso Local Government Area.

– The commissioning was a remarkable feat delivered under a very tight timeline despite significant supply chain challenges in the aftermath of COVID-19.

The power generated by the plant will serve the Challawa Industrial cluster, electrifying manufacturing and industrial activities under a distribution franchise model.

The Challawa, Kano plant is built to generate energy that produces no greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels and reduces air pollution.

The intention is for the project to supply the Challawa Water Works, the backbone of public water supply to the city of between 4-5 million people and the provision of unbroken power supply to streetlights in the state capital thereby helping with security. The effect will be to ease pressure on the overstretched power distribution to the Challawa industrial estate, the city’s second but largest industrial layout, to help spur industrial production and motivate other companies to invest in additional capacity and allow them to reach full capacity utilisation.

Kumbotso, Kano, January 30, 2023 – Today, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the solar plant.

Appointed as funds and project manager by the President, NSIA undertook the development, construction, and operationalization of the plant over a 2-year period and completed the project in January 2023. Sitting of 24 hectares of land, the plant is the largest grid-connected PV solar plant in Nigeria.

It is expected that full operationalization of the project will catalyse growth in the power sector as the plant demonstrates that large-scale-renewable energy projects can be successfully delivered in Nigeria.