By Onu Okorie

Nigeria has taken a landmark step in its clean energy transition efforts with the groundbreaking of a 200-megawatt solar mini-grid in Niger State.

 A statement made available to the media yesterday in Abuja by the Ministry of power explained that the project was developed by Abuja Steel Mills Limited, a subsidiary of the African Industries Group.

It added that the ceremony marked the formal handover of 500 hectares of Niger State land to the company by the Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago and the project will power an industrial park anchored by a steel plant.

Speaking during the occasion, the Minister of Power, MrJoseph Tegbe explained that what sets the project apart is not just its scale, but its deliberate choice to operate entirely off the national grid. “Rather than waiting for grid infrastructure to arrive, Abuja Steel Mills is building its own dedicated clean energy supply, purpose-engineered to meet the heavy power demands of steel production.”

“Off-grid, in the Nigerian energy conversation, has too often been treated as a second-best option,” he observed.

Minister Tegbe also pledged to treat the project’s power infrastructure requirements as a national economic priority.

The project is seen as the largest embedded renewable power installation of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the embedded generation model, industrial facilities produce their own clean power, sized to their operational needs, creating more predictable costs, reducing exposure to grid volatility, and potentially enabling surplus energy to be traded or distributed to surrounding communities.

With Nigeria’s abundant solar resources and a large, growing industrial base, analysts say the model carries significant potential for replication across major manufacturing sites nationwide.

The project is framed by the Federal Government as a tangible expression of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda — an effort to align clean energy development with industrial growth through private capital, targeted public enablement, and policy certainty.