You don’t need license to establish solar power plants – Fashola

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, says interested investors are free to establish commercial independent power generation plant or solar power plant without seeking a license from the Federal Government.

Fashola made the remarks while fielding questions from newsmen in Dutse during his two-day duty tour to Jigawa.

He pointed out that the Federal Government was encouraging private investors to invest in the generation and selling of power to the public.

“Any interested individual or company can set up power generation from 2MW downwards and sell it to the public without requesting for any license.

“We are encouraging people to set up small power generation companies and sell it according to their capacity, not necessarily going for a big project that requires a huge amount of money and expertise,” he said.

On the delay to start various private solar power generation projects in the country, particularly those investing in Jigawa state, the minister explained that the investors insisted on selling the power to the government.

He however added that the guideline and the cost they proposed were not attainable.

“But we are still negotiation with them and as soon as we reach an agreement, the investors will commence work at their sites.

The minister is in the state to inspect the ongoing construction of 76 units of houses in the state by the Federal Government under the National Housing Project.

He is also expected to inspect the ongoing rehabilitation of 33 km Hadejia-Nguru federal high way, which was awarded since 2010.