Lagos, 15 November 2024 – At the 5th Nigeria Energy 2024 Exhibition, Global energy storage technology leader GT PowerSafe officially released the “SolarMax+” off-grid energy storage system designed for West Africa, and signed a tripartite cooperation agreement with the Federal Ministry of Power of Nigeria and the West African Development Bank, planning to deploy 100,000 sets of household light storage equipment in the next five years. Covering 3 million people without electricity. This move marks the large-scale landing stage of Chinese enterprises’ deep participation in West Africa’s energy transformation.
Technology customization: Innovation for tropical climate adaptation
In response to challenges such as high temperature and humidity in West Africa and weak power grid, GT PowerSafe has launched three core technological breakthroughs:
Moisture-proof and mildew proof battery pack: using nitrogen capsule and graphene coating technology, the cycle life can reach 6000 times under humidity >90% environment, which is 3 times longer than the traditional solution;
Diesel-photovoltaic hybrid controller: realizes millisecon-level seamless switching between diesel generator and photovoltaic energy storage, reducing fuel consumption by 65%, which has been applied to the backup power transformation project of Lagos Airport;
Rapid deployment mobile energy storage station: A 20-foot container integrates 1.2MWh energy storage +200kW PV, which can be installed and debuggable within 8 hours to help emergency disaster relief power supply.
Trillion market nuggets: signed the largest light storage order in West Africa
During the exhibition, GT PowerSafe reached two milestones:
Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency (REA) : won the “National Power Plan” phase I project, to provide 50,000 sets of “SolarHome 5.0” household energy storage system (including 800W photovoltaic +10kWh energy storage), support mobile prepaid electricity function, the first year coverage will be increased to 15%;
West Africa Regional Grid Alliance (WAPP) : Signed a framework agreement for a 2.4GWh optical storage plant to provide FM services for the Ivorian – Ghana cross-border smart grid, which is expected to reduce regional outages by 40%.
Localization 2.0: From product output to technology symbiosis
GT PowerSafe announces the launch of the “Africa Spark Initiative” :
Local manufacturing: Invest $230 million to build the first energy storage assembly plant in West Africa in Ogun Free Trade Zone, and achieve 60% localized production of components by 2026;
Talent empowerment: Jointly build the “West African Renewable Energy Academy” with the University of Lagos to train 500 energy storage engineers every year;
Digital innovation: Develop an AI operation and maintenance App that supports Hausa and Yoruba to lower the threshold for device management in remote areas.
Data Insights: Lighting up the last ten kilometers of Africa
According to the African Development Bank report, there are still more than 180 million people in West Africa without stable electricity supply, and the annual growth rate of Nigeria’s household energy storage market is 47%. Chen Liwei, President of GT PowerSafe West Africa, said: “Our goal is to reduce the cost of system electricity to less than $0.15 by 2027, which is 60% cheaper than diesel power generation. At present, the Trinity demonstration community of ‘light storage and charging’ has been built in Senegal, and the average household electricity bill has been reduced by 75%.”
Industry Resonance: Reshaping Africa’s energy future
Aisha Diallo, Energy Affairs Officer of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, commented: “GT PowerSafe’s modular solution perfectly fits the needs of Africa’s ‘leap-forward energy transition’, and its’ technology inclusive + business sustainability ‘model may become the model for achieving SDG7 (Sustainable energy).” At the same time, GT PowerSafe and 15 African companies launched the Lagos Declaration, pledging to train 100,000 green energy technology workers in West Africa by 2030.
