How I get 24-Hours of power in Nigeria without a gen or "NEPA"

First of all, this is not a marketing post. I am just excited to share my experience with anyone who is willing to benefit from the joys of uninterrupted clean energy.

Power outages in Nigeria have been the norm for several decades but Nigerians have never gotten used to it and I don't think we will. From ECN (Electricity Corporation of Nigeria) to NEPA (Nigerian Electric Power Authority) to PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) to the present day privatization, sadly, the power situation hasn't changed. We have given the government fifty-odd years to prove themselves and I think it's high-time we take matters into our own hands.

Fortunately, Nigeria is blessed with  a lot of sunlight all year round due to it's geographical location and since December 2015, when I decided to tap into mother natures blessings, I have had uninterrupted power supply.

In this blog post, I am going to show you how to run on 24-hour of power by leveraging solar panels and energy efficient appliances. I am a big advocate of renewable energy(as you'll see from my blog posts) and I just had to put my money where my mouth was... as they say.

Okay, let's get right into it.




The House

• 1-bedroom flat
• 1 sitting room
• 1 kitchen
• 2 toilets and a shower.

The Electronics

• A total of 13 light bulbs power inside and outside the flat (energy saving bulbs)
• A 24-inch LG TV
• A Samsung energy saving fridge
• Phones and laptops
• 2 standing fans
• Microwave
• LG inverter Air Conditioner (This thing is amazing. It reduces the amount of energy the AC uses when you are on a generator or with a click of a button)

LG Inverter AC

All your light bulbs should ideally be energy saving bulbs.

These Osram Energy Saver bulbs are quite popular in the market and can be gotten from most convenient stores. I got mine from Spar in Lagos and Sahad Stores in Abuja. The light bulbs use very little amount of energy and thus, conserves a lot of your battery. During the energy assessment before installing the system, we found out that 3 conventional 60W bulbs used more energy than my fridge! 

The Solution

• 2KW Solar Panels
• 4 12V 200Ah batteries
• Inverters
• Energy efficient light bulbs

How long will it power my house for?

This depends. I currently use a 2KW system and it powers by house for 24-hours with about 40% of battery left by morning. So ideally, I can use a 1KW system but I just have to be more conservative with my energy. The 2KW allows me to use all my appliances(apart from my AC) without having to worry about my batteries running out.

When I use the air conditioner, I will most likely run the battery out in about 5 hours. However, I never leave it on for that long as I just need it to cool the sitting room for a about an hour or 2.

How do I get this system?

There are numerous options to get a solar panel installed and at different price bands. I was very skeptical initially as I couldn't tell the real from the fake. Please make sure you conduct due diligence on the legitimacy of the following companies as I do not take responsibility for their service.

1. I personally use Solynta Energy: They have a very good payment plan so you don't have to pay outright if you can't.
2. SolarKobo: Also have a payment plan but I haven't used them before.

How much will it cost?

I will advice you use this cost estimator to get a rough estimate. But if you are looking to pay monthly, you should be looking at a minimum of 12,000 Naira/month.

Do let me know what your thoughts are and I hope this was useful to you.

Please check out the first few paragraphs of this write-up by Ofili Speaks when you can. May we move away from being a #generatorGeneration