₦airaland Forum

Tdoctor:
Please, can anyone explain why tubular batteries are almost as expensive as LFP batteries in Nigeria, whereas outside the country, they are mostly one-third the price of LFP? Is there something I'm missing or am I looking at misleading data?

Shipping cost due to weight. A 220a 12v tubular battery weighs around 70kg. A 200a 12v lifepo4 battery weighs around 20-25kg.

favouredbymercy:
Good day everyone

I am using Powmr 4.2 hybrid and Haisic 25.6v black one, grid was on (charging was going on too), and supplying the house (load was lights and fridge), suddendly i heard a sound and power was off. Went where my setup was, saw inverter in error mode. Error 9 (bus soft start failed), battery shut down (battery is still shut down, not on)

Please what is the way foward? Location is Benin. Please

Please note my system is well protected With all necessary protection. It was not rainy, just normal grid usage (AC bypass mode) with less than 200w loads.

Google is your friend. Do a search on that error code and powmr inverter. Answer is detailed.

wowcatty:
Trump made the right choice, no other country will allow such scam.

The so called skilled workers bring certificates of schools that don’t exist, and most of them take sales jobs, are sales persons difficult to find in America?

They can still bring skilled workers in but there has to be a level playing field for Americans to compete.
These are the pays in southeast US.
CIO - $225k
CISO - $200k
Architect - $180k
Security engineer - $150k

If employers pay 100K to the govt and pay between $40k - $100k to the skilled workers, they will still save between $10k - $25k. How is this not enough if they’re not greedy? The choice is theirs.

The average salary on H1B is $138,000. 65% of people on the H1B are in the computer industry. Most people that transition to H1B are students.
Its going to cause a massive drop in F1 Visa applications especially for those who saw education as a route to migrate into the US. There are over 1m international students in the US.

legitnow1:
NNA, IF IT IS LIKE THIS LET US JUST REMAIN IN NIGERIA AND KEEP DEVELOPING LAGOS AND ABUJA.


I THOUGHT IGBO PEOPLE HAD SENSE.

Don't worry about chino typing from his unpainted one room self con in Port Harcourt about Anambra. We will look beyond propaganda and tell the truth.

Let govt folks continue turning Anambra into another Indian hovel with barrow, keke, iron kwandem wandering the streets like cattle. This is Soludos Dubai Taiwan. Primitivity on display.

Eboofa:
Hate or love him ! Soludo scored a hat trick and hit the bull's eye with construction and proposed construction of the dualized Awka-Ekwuluobia-Uga road, the Agulu-nnewi- Okija dual road.........and now dualization of Ekwuluobia-Oko-Ufuma road and lastly the Ekwuluobia-Igbo Ukwu-nnobi-nnobi dualized road...( I hope he extends this last road to nkpor)!

with the completion of these contracts all our major towns have been connected seamlessly........now anambra state can now truly feel like a small state!

That's his only achievement. But you know what makes economies great? Cities. Building a road from London to Newcastle is nice but better is building London itself.

Cities are living complex forms of human organization. If you dont get transport, power, water, sewage, drainage, waste and planning right you end up with a GHETTO. Anambra Cities are badly planned. Government provides little to nothing and it shows with the filth and chaos and primitivity. Civilization is built on order and science not what you see in Nigeria.

Gucciboy:
Born and brought up in Utuh community,Nnewi south LGA

Went to the prestigious Master's Vessel Seminary,Osumenyi owned by Diocese of Amichi Anglican Communion.

You should check history of who you're talking with because you're not more Anambra than me.

We're making intelligent argument here based on reality and facts not apga propaganda or dick measuring

One doesn't debate with a madman. Ekwulobia is a community of villages. It is not a city by any definition of the term which is population density, complex infrastructure and systems.

Soludo is certainly slipping. He started off well but he surrounds himself like a village headmaster with people who have done little. Minus roads and interventions in health and education what can soludo claim as his achievements?

Transport - total rubbish with keke, shuttle, barrow, iron kwandem and urchins from abakaliki and nsukka making a mess of urban areas

Industry - Obiano built shoe cluster at oba. Soludo? Amusement Park. ICC is a mockery with unfinished parking.

Agriculture - What has he done? Nothing.

Sports - Awka Stadium field falling apart from lack of maintenence. Onitsha stadium completely derelict

Markets - a mess from Onitsha to Nnewi to Awka. Thousands of shops with little water infrastructure and toilet facilities.

Environment - Anambra has gone back to dropping bins at areas and taking time to evacuate waste.

Street lights - majority of the solar lights installed by Soludo are dead showing his record in awarding contracts to unqualified companies.

Security - The less said the better.

ANSMEDIA:
Update from the ongoing construction of Awka mega mall - the biggest east of the Niger

Its not the biggest mall East of the Niger. Here are the sizes of other malls in the East:

Garden City Mall, Port Harcourt - 29,000 SQM
Polo Park Mall, Enugu - 22,530 SQM
Spar Calabar Mall, Calabar - 17,000 SQM
Spar Port Harcourt Mall, Port Harcourt - 16,000 SQM
Ikenga Mall, Awka - 15,000 SQM
Spar Enugu Mall, Enugu - 14,000 SQM
Onitsha Mall, Onitsha - 12,000 SQM
Owerri Mall, Imo - 8.686 SQM

Reports coming out suggest that the Afriland Towers Fire was started in the INVERTER ROOM.

"According to the Federal Fire Service team leader from Ebute Metta, Mr Ehimen Momoh, the fire started from an inverter battery in the basement and spread to a parked Toyota Sienna and a motorcycle, both of which were completely burnt. Other vehicles in the basement were, however, saved."

Its very important that if you are installing solar systems to get EXPERIENCED installers who calculate load, wiring sizes and use fuses, breakers properly. Ensure that you also install smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher nearby in case of fire.

FEGEITOK:
This thing go cost!

How much e be?

Na firesale. Twenty k for the pair.

FEGEITOK:
My neighbor is asking that |I supply them power from my alternative to AEDC.

Please recommend a cheap but functional meter that I can use to ensure that I can monitor their consumption if anyone has been through this situation before.

Do we have it in the country or will I have to import?

I have two ABB meters I used for something like this. Very rugged. Drop your digts.

favouredbymercy:
Good morning

Please I want to ask, can the Powmr 4.2KW hybrid inverter paired with the Haisic 25.6v Battery carry a 1.5HP Submersible pump.

Can it work? What are the conditions for it to work if it will?

Thanks for the contribution.

Please I need input on this matter. Thanks

Your 4.2KW inverter can handle a surge of 2x or around 8400W. You should check the starting current of the 1.5hp pump from its spec sheet to see if it is under this. Then also check whether that kind of surge can be handled by your battery. A 4x starting current means that your 25.6V Haisic battery must be able to discharge anywhere up to 200A. The Haisic 8KWh battery for example can discharge only up to 150A.

fuckboys:
you want to sell this battery? Make I come dm?

Haisic 8KWH is actually 280AH x 25.6 = 7,168W or 7.17KWH. Shouldn't buy batteries where the manufacturer deliberately mislabels the actual capacity. Who knows what other shortcuts they took.

Dageek:
Still on the renewable energy journey, many people mix it up at the very first stage; they neglect the importance of proper system sizing. I built this app to help solve this problem. You don't have to be a professional to use it.

The solar calculator is completely free. You can use the calculator via solarformation.com
I'll continue working on it and plan to achieve the other features listed on the landing page.

Well done. ✔️

favouredbymercy:
This is the most likely issue. Hybrid inverters and potential hybrid inverters users please take note of this: Always try to aim for the nominal pv input voltage at least. Most hybrid inverters have a nominal pv input voltage of 240v. Even if it means going for multiples of lower panel sizes, aim for that nominal input voltage at least because it is from that voltage the inverter will work best.

This is the reason i went for an external charge controller to connect my 2 jinko 590w panels first to my setup, though my hybrid inverter has an mppt startup voltage of 60v, but the nominal input voltage is 240v. I would only connect my pv array to my hybrid inverter when i have at least 6 of thos panels.

Take note of this, it is important.

The nominal pv input voltage is generally based on the highest mppt conversion efficiency of the hybrid inverter. Generally its closest to the middle point of the pv voltage input range. It doesnt mean a hybrid inverter cannot invert at lower or higher pv inputs.

ANSMEDIA:
Just mechionu nsi gi there. I didn’t post the pictures for you. Awka is a beautiful city and that’s what matters. Anambra shall continue to be the most developed Igbo state.

Be honest and show the dirt roads your principal has failed to tar which is 95% of Awka. No need for propaganda.

Pakistan’s 22 GW Solar Shock: How a Fragile State Went Full Clean Energy

Michael Barnard

Pakistan isn’t the first country you’d expect to crash the global solar party. But by the end of 2024, it quietly rocketed into the top tier of solar adopters, importing a jaw-dropping 22 gigawatts worth of solar panels in a single year. That’s not a typo or a spreadsheet rounding error. That’s the kind of number that turns heads at IEA meetings and makes policy analysts double-check their databases. It certainly made me sit up and take notice when I first heard about what was happening in mid-2024.

It’s more solar than Canada has installed in total. It’s more than the UK added in the past five years. And yet it didn’t make a blip in most Western media. While the U.S. continued its decade-long existential crisis about grid interconnection queues and Europe squabbled over permitting reforms, Pakistan skipped the drama and just bought the panels.


To understand how improbable this cleantech surge really is, you have to go back to the beginning. Pakistan was born in blood and migration—wrenched from British India in 1947 in a Partition that triggered one of the largest and most violent population exchanges in history. Millions of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs fled across hastily drawn borders, and up to two million people didn’t survive the chaos. The new nation was split in two—West Pakistan and East Pakistan—separated by a thousand miles of Indian territory and political dysfunction. That arrangement collapsed in 1971 when East Pakistan broke away to become Bangladesh after a brutal civil war and military crackdown that left deep scars.

Then came the Cold War. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan became the launchpad for American-backed Mujahideen fighters. Guns, dollars, and militants flowed through the border for a decade, and when the Americans packed up in the early ’90s, the extremists didn’t. The U.S. came back in 2001 with another invasion, and again, Pakistan was drawn into the fire as a frontline state. For over 30 years, it was a nation perpetually reacting to someone else’s war, absorbing millions of refugees, and fending off blowback from its own intelligence games. That any sort of coordinated energy transition could emerge from that geopolitical wreckage is not just surprising—it’s remarkable.

Pakistan’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions remain modest on the global scale—roughly 490 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent as of the late 2010s—putting it well outside the top ten global emitters. But that figure masks a more nuanced story. On a per capita basis, Pakistan’s emissions hover around 2 tonnes per person, dramatically lower than the global average of over 6 tonnes and far below the 15–20 tonnes per person typical of the U.S., Canada, or Australia. It’s a similar story when you look at historical emissions: Pakistan has contributed less than 1% of cumulative global CO₂ since the Industrial Revolution.

But when measured against economic output, the picture shifts. Pakistan’s carbon intensity per unit of GDP is significantly higher than that of most developed countries—meaning it emits more carbon for each dollar of economic activity. This reflects its fossil-heavy energy mix, inefficient industrial base, and reliance on aging infrastructure. In effect, Pakistan is both under-emitting in human terms and over-emitting in economic ones—a country still trying to lift millions out of poverty without locking itself into a carbon-intensive development model. The clean tech boom now underway is a rare opportunity to shift both metrics in the right direction.

How does a country once considered a textbook fragile state leapfrog into solar hyperscale? You can’t make sense of it without going back two decades. In the early 2000s, Pakistan was better known for insurgencies and instability than infrastructure upgrades. Terror attacks were frequent, electricity shortages were the norm, and governance was, to put it kindly, patchy. Political cycles flipped with the military’s mood, floods battered the countryside, and inflation hollowed out public services. Not exactly the backdrop for a clean tech success story.

But something changed. Slowly, unevenly, Pakistan started building institutional muscle. The terrorism that plagued the country for over a decade was brought under control through a combination of military operations and negotiated truces. Civilian governments, for all their dysfunction, managed peaceful handovers of power. The technocratic class—policy analysts, engineers, civil servants—began steering the country toward energy pragmatism. It wasn’t a revolution. It was governance on hard mode, with better outcomes.

It wasn’t just Pakistan. As Kishore Mahbubani points out in Has the West Lost It?, this is part of a broader Asian playbook—one that prioritizes order, competence, and steady economic gains over ideological grandstanding. Across Asia, countries battered by conflict and colonial hangovers have been converging on a kind of strategic calm, building quietly and governing smarter. Pakistan may have taken longer to join the club, but its trajectory—fighting its way out of chaos and into functionality—is just another chapter in the region’s larger story of post-crisis, post-colonial increase in resilience.

That’s what set the stage for the current explosion in solar power. For years, Pakistan’s grid was a source of national frustration—rolling blackouts, wild tariff swings, and a chronic overreliance on imported fossil fuels. The tipping point came when utility-scale and industrial solar started making simple economic sense. With Chinese panel prices crashing through the floor and diesel generator costs spiraling out of control, even small business owners started doing the math. The answer was always the same: buy solar. Add batteries if you can afford them. Cut the grid loose.

In 2024, that decision calculus went mainstream. Import records show 22 gigawatts worth of modules flooding into the country, with many going to private-sector installations behind the meter. Warehouses, textile mills, farms—anything with a flat roof and a balance sheet. The government barely needed to nudge the market. It just removed tariffs, approved net metering, and got out of the way. Good governance.

This isn’t just a solar story, though. Wind has been building quietly in the south for years, especially in the Gharo-Jhimpir corridor. Hydropower continues to play a big role, and bagasse from the sugar industry chips in some renewable electrons too. Battery storage is the next act, mostly in the form of hybrid inverters and lithium-ion packs tucked into homes and businesses. They aren’t grid-scale yet, but they’re everywhere you’d want resilience—factories avoiding outages, households tired of flickering bulbs. The pieces are in place for a distributed energy system that doesn’t wait for the grid to catch up. Which is good, because Pakistan’s grid is not remotely ready for this volume of variable generation. Utilities are already reeling from the revenue shock as high-value customers opt out of dependence. No one likes selling electrons when your best clients are making their own. That looming utility death spiral? It’s not theoretical in Lahore or Karachi.

No clean energy narrative in 2024 is complete without a few billion dollars earmarked for electrolyzers and green ammonia export fantasies. Pakistan has joined the chorus, announcing plans for a 400 MW green hydrogen project tied to solar and wind inputs. On paper, it all looks impressive: local renewables, domestic production, value-added exports. In practice, this has all the telltale signs of falling into the hydrogen-as-energy trap. Hydrogen is a lousy carrier of energy for most end uses, with terrible round-trip efficiency and a host of infrastructure headaches. But it can make sense in industrial processes, especially for fertilizer production—something Pakistan actually needs. If policymakers keep the focus on decarbonizing ammonia and refining, rather than dreaming of hydrogen cars and home boilers, they might just avoid the detour that’s tripped up wealthier nations.

Pakistan’s electric vehicle transition is picking up momentum too, driven by a mix of foreign investment and homegrown innovation. Chinese companies have taken the lead in setting up large-scale operations, with firms like BYD announcing plans to open a production facility in Karachi and the ADM Group committing $350 million to build EV manufacturing capacity and install thousands of charging stations nationwide. These moves dovetail with Pakistan’s goal to convert 30% of all vehicles to electric by 2030.

But the real action is happening closer to the ground, where indigenous startups are rolling out electric two- and three-wheelers at a pace that could reshape urban mobility. Companies like Jolta Electric and Vlektra are assembling locally made e-motorcycles that target the country’s massive base of two-wheeler users—millions of whom rely on scooters and bikes for daily transport. With soaring petrol prices and worsening air quality in cities like Lahore and Karachi, these electric alternatives are fast becoming the obvious choice. The economics are simple: lower fuel costs, less maintenance, and in many cases, the ability to charge with rooftop solar. While car-scale EV adoption remains limited, the grassroots uptake of electric bikes and rickshaws—many of them assembled in Pakistan—is proving that the EV revolution here will likely be led from the bottom up.

All of this hardware only matters if it’s backed by credible climate policy. For a long time, Pakistan was a spectator in the global climate arena—vulnerable, poor, and preoccupied with security. But its stance shifted after joining the Paris Agreement. The initial emissions target, a 20 percent reduction from business-as-usual by 2030, was cautious and heavily conditional. Then came the 2021 update, and suddenly Pakistan was talking big: a 50 percent reduction from its projected 2030 emissions, with 15 percent of that unconditionally promised. That’s not a trivial shift. It meant serious buy-in from ministries, financing plans, and coordination across sectors.

Pakistan’s energy transformation didn’t happen in a vacuum—it’s part of a broader pivot toward climate consciousness that has taken root in both policy and politics. One of the most visible symbols of this shift is the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami, an audacious reforestation campaign launched to combat deforestation, restore degraded land, and absorb carbon emissions. It builds on the earlier Billion Tree Tsunami in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was once met with skepticism but ended up exceeding planting targets and winning international praise.

Now scaled nationwide, the initiative isn’t just about trees—it’s a public signal that the country sees climate as a front-and-center issue, not a side project. In a nation hammered by floods, droughts, and record heat, this kind of program isn’t ornamental—it’s survival strategy. More importantly, it reflects a shift in how state capacity is being applied: not to suppress or control, but to regenerate. For a country that spent decades managing crises at gunpoint or through donor dependency, the sight of civil servants mobilizing for climate resilience marks a profound change. It’s not perfect—no national program this ambitious ever is—but it’s real, it’s scaled, and it’s rooted in the same quiet competence now driving Pakistan’s clean energy boom.

The real beauty of this story is how unglamorous it is. Pakistan isn’t trying to become a Silicon Valley of solar. It’s not chasing unicorn valuations or plastering press releases with blockchain buzzwords. It’s solving energy poverty with sunlight and silicon. It’s trading diesel for distributed storage. It’s moving from grid collapse to gridless competence. It’s trading petrol for electrons. And it’s doing it at a pace that should embarrass countries with ten times the GDP.

That 22 gigawatts isn’t the result of perfect governance or unlimited funds. It’s what happens when global markets make disruptive energy products that fit in containers dirt cheap. Every country should be opening their borders wide to Chinese solar, batteries and EVs. Even Pakistan gets that, so clearly no major western country would be so foolish as to close their borders instead.

ANSMEDIA:
Somewhere in the beautiful city of Awka

Instead of showing the same three streets in Awka the government should make a concerted effort to pave at least 80% of Awka. This is not difficult to do since the urban core of Awka is comprised of streets less than 300m in length.

They should focus on the villages of Umudioka that connects to Zik Ave, Emma Nnaemeka, Ichide, Onwurah Streets. Amikwo village that connects to Dike, Obunagu, Works Rd and Court Rd streets. Amudo village with streets that connects to Amudo, Zik Ave, Amudo Streets and Ifite village where there needs to be multiple exit and entry roads to take pressure off the narrow Ifite Road. For example the road leading to new Government house should extend all the way to ifite and maintain its width.

durodee:
Yes( from personal experience). The power draw in a 24v(amps used at a given voltage ) will be double of what a 48v system will use for any given load.
Implications: at the peak end of load, the 24v 5kw system will be drawing about 200amps, putting your cables under serious strain, getting hot and catching fire.
Trust me , I have both systems

Except that most 5kw 24v inverters cap maximum output at 3000w or 125A.

Solar can deliver growth, competitiveness, and resilience all over the world

August 20, 2025

It is clear for all to see that we have entered a new era in global geopolitics, a new emphasis on security and a post-aid era. The paradigms that have persisted since 1945 are shifting fast.

The solar energy sector is deeply affected by that changing landscape. We are one of the most geopolitical of the energy technologies, and one with a huge role and responsibility to deliver sustainable, domestic power for development, resilience to climate impacts, and, most of all, cheap and clean power for economic growth and better quality of life.

Solar is one of the most critical technologies that can lead the energy transition and help keep us on a pathway to +1.5 – 2 C of global warming, if we unlock its full potential. Solar can deliver the competitive power needed to electrify and green our productive sectors, such as industries, commerce, agribusiness, and much more – the cheapest ever seen in the history of power generation, according to both respected market analysts and intergovernmental agencies.

Solar can deliver energy security. This will be a new, different type of energy security to countries that have been used to digging up or stockpiling and later burning or exporting their fossil reserves. It will be an energy security based on the sun that rises and falls every day, consistently and predictably. An energy security based on solar systems installed quickly, in modular blocks that fit the size of the needed electricity demand, and that remain there, quietly and robustly, for 25 years or more generating reliable clean power. It is an energy security of the supply of power itself, as a distributed solar and energy storage system can keep the lights on and the AC running better in times of natural disaster, extreme climate impacts or unexpected conflicts.

Solar is also the sector of the economy, thanks to being largely based in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), that can deliver high-quality jobs. Lots of them, and distributed all over the world, in every village, town, and city. Solar already provides jobs for more than 7million people around the world. It is estimated that between 70-90% of all those are local, in the installation of solar systems, engineering and design, local sales and many other. Every solar equipment, be it a PV module, an inverter, an energy storage unit (such as batteries to store the electricity generated during the day for use at night or whenever we may need), has to be sold, delivered, and installed with a pair of human hands. Bolted on to a racking on the roof, or screwed on to a mounting structure at ground level. That creates jobs – and lots of them.

Perhaps most importantly, solar and storage are fundamentally changing the game in terms of access to electricity in the developing world. The 700 million people that still don’t have access to electricity are now getting somewhere to charge their phone and laptop, power a small business or irrigate their fields, thanks to solar and storage. No more do we need to build huge grid pylons to power the tiniest community – a single truckload of solar lights, solar plus storage systems, a simple micro-grid, can do the job, faster, better and, given ample load shedding in some parts of the world, more reliably.

Even those of us who have worked in the sector for 20 years or more, are constantly surprised by how versatile this technology is becoming. A huge 8 GW large-scale solar power plant in the desert, powering a million or more homes? Sure. Floating solar on water reservoirs, lakes, and coastal waters? We can do that too. Mounted slightly higher over crops, to shade then just the right way and power agricultural activity? That works as well. A tiny solar system, as big as an iPad, to give you some light when it gets dark when you don’t have grid power? Absolutely – and 560 million people around the world are already benefiting from that at least once a week, according to GOGLA, the off-grid solar association. A single panel (or many) hung off a balcony? We have 400,000 of them installed in Germany already. On the wings of an airplane, to power a round the world flight? We’ve done that too, with the Solar Impulse plane in 2016. And we are about to do it again, this time powered by solar, battery storage, and green hydrogen.

Solar is so scalable, so versatile, that every single country in the world, every single human on the planet from the frozen North to the deepest rainforests, from the dry, arid plains of the Atacama to the buzzing metropolises of New York, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Whatever your needs, large or small, solar plus storage is here to serve you. This is why solar PV is now delivering almost 700+ GW per year and counting, the fastest growing source of electricity in the history of humankind.

Challenges remain and new ones will exist, of course, for both solar and storage. The cost of finance remains stubbornly high in many developing markets, meaning that high CAPEX solar projects just don’t get built. We need risk mitigation mechanisms to address this, to make projects investment-ready. In parts of the world where solar has proven successful, we need to reform electricity markets and build more flexibility into systems, so that demand responds to market prices. In parts of the world where putting solar on your roof is a bureaucratic nightmare, we need to unburden solar from unnecessary approvals and red tape. Trade barriers, of all different varieties, artificially push up prices, making solar more expensive to end consumers than it should be in some markets.

If we get this right, by some estimates, solar could be powering half of the world’s electricity needs by 2035. We can, and should, install 8 TW of solar PV in total by 2030. The magic combination of solar with other renewables, short and long-duration storage, and system flexibility can save money, boost growth, attract local investment, create more high-quality local jobs, and deliver much-needed development. The opportunity is there for the taking – and we need our leaders, in governments, in regulation, in finance, and in global diplomacy, at COP30 and beyond, to recognize and act on it, as fast as we can.

Authors: Sonia Dunlop, CEO, Global Solar Council and Rodrigo Sauaia, CEO, ABSOLAR Brazil and Chair, Global Solar Council

bassdow:
what about improvements on national grid that might have occurred by then ? abi we no want get hope at all for this corn3 ?

Are you seeing what's happening in Australia and California where they have stable grid? 30% of Australian households have home solar systems. Or what about China with 888GW of Solar power capacity. We have stupid government. I expect that the same way they couldn't run a centralized phone network is the same way TCN will end up as backup. You will see lots of rooftop solar and mini grids.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-countries-with-the-most-solar-power-installed/

Charley2020:
According to abuzz33's explanation, I should go for a 48v system since I need 3.6kwh of backup power. So, what do you recommend?

Max continuous load shouldn't be more than 500w (230 watts gaming laptop, fridge, TV, fan, DSTV, bulbs). The gaming laptop should use half of 230 watts when not playing games as I use it for work too. I excluded high power appliances that will only be used for short periods of time like electric iron, blender, etc. I have a non-inverter 1HP AC that will only be used when grid power is available.

Also, I won't use my laptop for 24 hours daily. I'll get tired of using it and turn it off for a few hours. The same applies to the TV. The fridge also uses less power after a few hours since it doesn't utilize as much power to maintain its current temperature as it does to reach it.

But let's just say it's 500 watts. What would you recommend, 12v, 24v, or 48v?

If your setup will not change much over the years, then go for something like:

- Welion Eco-2000 1600W 12V hybrid 80a MPPT inverter which allows you to panel up to 2000W and has 4000VA surge
- 5 x 400W Panels or 3 x 650W panels
- 25mm DC cables
- CWorth 300Ah 12V LIFEPO4 battery (3.84KWh)

But if you plan to expand later, go for a 24V or 48V inverter that can support a much larger solar array (6000W+). Why? You can always use it for multiple applications or sell it.

In terms of batteries which are expensive, save your money. Battery prices are crashing now with lithium oversupply and innovation. LIFEPO4 batteries are now around $100/KWh down from $120-150 in 2024 such that those companies that you see selling 5KWh batteries for N900K ($600) in Nigeria are still making profits.

With CATL about to start producing Sodium Ion batteries, the time is coming that batteries will cost $30 per KWh meaning a 5KWh battery will cost $150 or N225,000 naira and last 15 years.

What this means is that people should, if possible, plan for solar as MAINs with NEPA serving as backup.

dacool1:
For most people, especially grid tied, a 12v system is great. You can run a freezer(200w) and a blender(500) watts simultaneously on a 1kw(continuous power) inverter.

You might say the initial surge, but that's totally dependent on your inverter surge capacity and more importantly you battery bank.

Except you need to draw over 1kw continuously for a long duration, a 12v system is perfectly fine. 12v systems are suitable for loads below 1kw.

How will you have a 48v system and only have 5kwh battery capacity. Personally I have used and currently using my 12v systems as it suits my load.

Left to me if your battery bank is less than 5w manage your loads and stick to a 12v system

For a 24v system your minimum battery capacity should be about 10 to 15kw bank

For 48v from 15kw upward

Of what use is a system you can't fully utilize its capacity.

Size your backup system according to your needs. A 12v inverter can support even a 15kwh backup system but can only pull up to 1500w at a time from it. But question you should ask is do you want to be pulling 125a from batteries in a 12v setup using 35mm cable or 31.2a in a 48v setup using 16mm cable?

Then to charge your 15kwh battery bank via solar you will need to buy lots of separate charge controllers.

Battery makers build sizes based on typical usage which is why you see lots of 100ah and 200ah 12v lifepo4 batteries suggesting much lower continuous loads (100-200wh) for 12v systems. The largest I have seen so far is a 310ah lifepo4 battery

https://www.ebay.com/itm/376327100934

So if you need 3.5kwh backup like the poster asked there are simpler 12v solutions that dont require paralleling 100ah or 200ah lifepo4 batteries. 310ah is almost 4kwh.

dollarnaira:
The question is : what is your max load?
The way 12v is degraded makes it look as if it can only power a fan. The poster above is right though as per comparing 48v to 12v. But that angle of thicker cable is too too exaggerating as if you will keep buying thicker cables everyday. Thicker cable is only needed from inverter to cc to battery-- not up to 1metre. Some persons here don't need large amount of energy generated daily and their batteries hardy go below 70% for months especially during dry season. Some even run loads below 600w but are on a 48v system. Check out the following:

Blender: 500w ( few minutes)
2 32" TVs 70w
Washing machine : 300w (few minutes)
Freezer 115w
3 Fans
Iron 300w
Bulbs 30w
Etc

Will you turn on all the above on a 12v system? NO. But major loads like tv, lightings,fans, iron or washing machine will run smoothly without issues. Is it affordable? Cost effective.

Most of us leave appliances on when not in use. These ones struggle abroad to manage loads as energy don't come cheap over there.

Some have not even try out a 12v personally but made conclusions based on YouTube videos and those who waste energy.

Your tank will run dry if a leaked tap is not fixed urgently. View energy as a water tank.

Will you turn on all the above on a 48v system? YES YES YES with all loads turned on including bigger loads not mentioned. Not cost effective and almost 4times the cost of 12v. Note, there are 96v systems.

Note: If your budget is fit for 48v or higher enjoy your investment.

Lastly for emphasis, the type of continuous load you want to run without load shedding determines the type system you will install. But be aware that 80% of our daily needs will run smoothly on a 12v system.

N.B: I run a 0.5hp sumo via a 12v 3kva Satchet inveter everyday for 4 to 6mins. All my loads are off grid.

Na who get sense dey use solar.

Manufacturers limit 12V inverters to around 2KVA or 1600W which in DC terms requires cables that can carry 133A. That requires a 35MM DC cable. 150A or 1800W requires a 50MM cable for runs of 1M.. 1600W max load is not a lot. A fridge can easily require 1200W just to start and if you combine that with a TV (120W), Decoder (30W), Fan (75W), lighting (100W) its cutting it close. You definitely cannot run a fridge and freezer together.

Its why with 12V systems you have to carefully calculate your load profile and manage your setup because they DRASTICALLY LIMIT the load you can put on them. Its also the reason why manufacturers came up with the solar generator form factor because 12V works best as a plug-in to devices with a well-defined power profile.

Charley2020:
Nah, I need a minimum of 3.6 kwh battery power. And since most people here don't recommend 12v systems, I don't want to go for that either. Thanks for the detailed response though.

It depends on your load. The lower the voltage of your system the higher the amperage to provide power which requires thicker cables. A load for a 12V system will require THICKER cables to handle HIGHER amps whereas the same load for 48V would require thinner cables.

For example, lets say you have a load of 1,000W. Your 12V system would need to have cables that can carry 83AMPS whereas a 48V system would need cables supporting just 21AMPS. So as the load gets bigger it becomes unfeasible to use 12V systems because of the sheer cost of components such as wiring, fuses and circuit breakers.

This is why most manufacturers build 12V systems limited to 1KVA or 1.5KVA while 24V systems go up to around 3KVA and 48V starts from 3.5KVA upwards.

If you are running small, light loads of well under 1,000W, 12V is perfectly fine. 12V systems are good for targeted limited applications - CCTV or lighting or running a small office or flat.

As for battery backup if you are looking at anything above 2.5KW then go for a higher voltage setup.

Unbiased1:
Do you know how many people have called out Soludo? Did Soludo not promise to end insecurity in Anambra? He has spent almost 4 years in office and Anambra has become the most insecure state in Southern Nigeria. Even the vigilante group (Agunechemba) he introduced has become a criminal organisation. The man talks too much and has little action.

In 2 years, Mbah can showcase as much completed projects as Soludo in almost 4 years. Look at the ICC Awka, still devoid of proper landscaping after more than 4 years since it was completed. Now look at the ICC Enugu after less than 1 year of renovation, it has proper landscaping, it has hosted 3 top events that drew Nigerians from all over country including Nigeria's largest tech summit. Can we kindly compare the ICC hotel in Awka to the ongoing ICC hotel in Enugu? That of Enugu radiates class and sophistication. Look up the images yourself.

Look at the 5 bus terminals that were completed this month across Enugu. I'm sure they will complete their landscaping before that of the ICC Awka. Does Anambra have any comparable terminal to manage vehicular traffic when picking and dropping off passengers and loads? No.

Look at tax collection. Commercial motorists pay their taxes with their tax cards in Enugu. People take their cards to a POS agent to pay their taxes. To confirm if a person has paid his/her tax, the tax collector simply taps your card on a machine to check if you have paid your tax for that day. This was something Soludo said he was going to introduce in Anambra when he was contesting. 4 years down the line, and Anambra is still selling tickets the old fashioned way where money can be siphoned by the tax collector.

We are patiently waiting for 2024 IGR report. This is when I will really come for that talkative of a Governor called Soludo. If Enugu state truly generated over 100 billion in 2024, the Soludo is a complete disgrace to himself because 4 years down the line, Anambra is still hovering at 33 billion despite its economy being under the able hands of a so-called Economist and PhD holder.

Businesspeople have more sense than so called professors whose careers are about theorizing. Mbah is far more practical than Soludo. His first priority was water and transport. Soludos first priority was Government House and an Amusement Park.

Mbah brought in experts to fix their tax system. Soludo handed over the Anambra tax system to Agberos.

Contrast holy ghost bus terminal to Solution bus Park at Arroma to see the massive difference in vision and planning. Anambra the center of road transport cannot point to a single worthwhile bus or truck terminal.

Anambra Gov’t Sacks ‘Agunaechemba’ Operatives For Assaulting Female NYSC Member
By Okechukwu Obeta
13 hours ago News

The Anambra State Government has dismissed operatives of the state ad-hoc security organisation “Udo Ga Chi” who were involved in stripping naked a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Jennifer Edema Elohor.

Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Homeland Security, Prince Emeakayi disclosed this during an interview on Arise TV’s on Tuesday.

Emeakayi also condemned the action of the state vigilante operatives.

The NYSC member was seen in a viral video being assaulted and stripped naked by some operatives of the Agunaechemba state’s security organisation with each of them brandishing pump action rifles.

The state government condemned that action of the operatives, declaring that the affected persons have already been disengaged, adding that the government was also ready to produce them for prosecution whenever the police need them.

Emeakayi described the erring operatives as ‘bad eggs’ that could be found even in the nation’s conventional security organisations like the police force.

He argued that their actions did not represent the patriotic and sound security commitments of members of the ad-hoc security organisation, especially the Agunaechemba arm of the Udo Ga Chi.

The governor’s aide stressed that the state government was collaborating with the state police command to provide proper training to members of the security group to acquire proper security management skills, adding that each of the operatives have identification number for identification on their uniforms.

“The action of the security operatives are condemnable, and, as such all the operative involved in that despicable action of stripping the NYSC member naked have been disengaged from the state government’s vigilant service.

“Whenever the state police command is ready for their prosecution, as a government we will produce them,” he said.

Also, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP Tochukwu confirmed the action of the Agunaechemba operatives.

He said that the victim had sent a WhatsApp chat where she complained about the assault on her by the vigilante operatives.

SP Ikenga, who featured on a separate segment on the Arise TV, said he had advised Elohor to come to his office at the state police headquarters to formally table her case.

This he noted, will enable the Command to carry out proper investigation into the issue to ensure that the perpetrators faced the full weight of the law.

Its now they remember the need for training. This is the problem with this Soludo administration and his predecessors. They dont think properly before taking action. The chief concerns for security in the state which all those NPF officers are not delivering on are the following:

- CULTISM
- DRUG TRAFFICKING
- ARMS PROLIFERATION
- KIDNAPPING

Assembling a bunch of thugs is not security. What the state needs is an INTELLIGENCE OUTFIT and SPECIALIZED COUNTER STRIKE FORCE. It should be an embarassment to Soludo that judges, lawyers, politicians, doctors, lecturers even US Embassy Convoy have been victim of the state's spiraling insecurity. But he behaves as if nothing is wrong when something is very very wrong.

The state should go get assistance from the Israelis or the Russians. Identifying and eliminating crime gangs in Anambra takes intelligence work not thugs running around with AK-47s.

Eboofa:
You actually beat me to it, I really wanted to blast Soludo administration for the past few days............He has gone back to his old ways of making trivial and flippant statements about the condition of our dear Anambra state! He has a nack of demarketing his own product! How do you keep on saying ndigbo and ndianambra are 100% responsible for kidnapping in Anambra state......( even if it is true! and its a largely inaccurate statement anyway) !!

To make matters worse, he has taken his eyes off the security ball completely, he is busy politicking right now! Who is the state Security czar again? I have always doubted Soludo"s managerial and admin acumen, who is his Chief of staff? where is the legacy security institutions and architecture he is building? Let him learn from Patrick Mba of Enugu state on how to run a 21st century security network! Getting ndimpiwazu touts and asawana special forces will not do the whole job! Those are stop gap measures! where are the drones, where are the decryption and decoding machines for tracking calls, where are the cctv cameras, where are the trained personnel?

Cultists,kidnappers and fulani herdsmen have almost overun Anambra in the last few weeks.....where are the reforms of the criminal justice system........do we need firearms,robbery and kidnapping courts or even tribunals! We need to take the fight to these criminals! enough is enough for pete's sake! How can criminals numbering less than 10,000 individuals take our sleep from us!

Meanwhile soludo is spending millions upon millions walling off and barricading people's home and residences from viewing the state house from their homes! What utter nonsense, You could have planted large shade trees on the state house side and private home owners side of the boulevard as long as 3 years ago! Why has soludo surrounded himself with people who have absolutley no initiative! na wa o....I just get pissed at his tardiness and tackiness sometimes! He has to declare an immediate emergency on criminality and fight it with technology and vexation!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd_dimfFHfU&t=21s




You see this barricade nonsense..........the home owners if they feel sufficiently pissed should sue ASAP!

The new Government House is a reflection of how ANSG operates. Relying on inexperience. The ANSG never considered security when they were designing the new Government House because it was likely they gave the architectural design to an APGA member instead of to a professional firm. A professional firm would not have built buildings close to the boundary walls as you see with the US embassy buildings which are built deep inside their land. And like you mentioned, a smart government knowing it had made a mistake would have planted trees not just on the road but even within its premises. But a government full of corrupt dullards would rather spend billions erecting iron pillars.

If there is any criticism of Soludo its that his lack of ability to recruit experts is why the state is suffering security challenges. Under Soludo, lecturers, politicians, doctors, lawyers have been kidnapped and killed because his "solution" to security is hiring thugs and giving them vans and calling them Agunechemba. For real security experts are needed.

Already the diaspora are abandoning the state in droves. People are spending most of their time (and money) in Lagos and Abuja and only visiting Anambra when necessary. The roads, hotels, restaurants, clubs of the state are reflecting this and have lost significant patronage.

Too bad.

Eboofa:
If Anambra state ditto SEDC wants to hasten the industrial revolution in the southeast , my suggestion is that they partner with Geometric Power to increase the supply of gas feedstock to their Osisioma powerplant in Abia state. Incidentally, I did some consulting work for Oilserv when they completed the gas pipeline form owaza to the geometric powerplant over 12 years ago, same Oilserv is the main contractor for the AKK( ajaokuta-Kaduna -kano) pipeline,you alluded to. The AKK pipeline was conceived and designed ( 10 years ago) by Oilserv's in-house Engineering and design bureau called Frazimex engineering......... I am not an insider but I do have some knowledge on the timeline for pipeline and powerplants......It takes time sir! The AKK pipeline will never be completed in the next 24 months...........after that you still have to design and construct another pipeline to take gas feedstock from OB3 pipeline running east to west in Niger delta to feed AKK at Ajaokuta...............I do not foresee the AKKpipeline being energized in the next 5 years sir!

Let SEDC assure more and regular gas to Geometric power and help them finance additional turbines in their facility! grant Geometric a power transmission and distribution to supply 100MW to Anambra...under a liberal regulatory environment.......with that license in hand, its left for Prof Barth Nnaji to finance the suppy of power to Anambra state thru those huge trasmission towers! This is a more cost effective way of getting more power to anambra state!

There is no need for Anambra state to finance gas pipelines and powerplants to feed an elusive industrial take off! who wan run am sef! Let the private sector deal with that but with serious regulatory backing by the state government!

Thanks for your insights. However, to me a gas pipeline to Anambra is needed because it allows you to do many things with the gas supply. You can pipe it to industrial estates, build a power plant. Long run it's more valuable than just running a transmission line.

Indeed, why even go all the way to Aba for power when producing gas fields and power plants are next door in Imo. The Egbema power plant rated at 350MW is almost double that of Geometrics 188MW power plant. It is connected to the far more reliable Shell gas pipeline system. What stops the Anambra and Imo govts from creating an SPV and buying that power plant from the NDPHC and splitting its output 50:50? Or even the ANSG could buy it outright by floating a mix of bonds and equity.

We need to be bolder, think deeper, bigger and be more innovative.

Big economies are built on big projects and planning that change the dynamics of economies not easy solutions. Look at the difference between China and India. The Chinese have planned cities with buses, wide avenues, bridges. India has dysfunctional ones with narrow roads with tricycles. Where are investors flocking? Theres a reason China GDP is 10x India.

Anambra already looks like India with all the Keke, shuttle and barrows clogging it's street. Why not when the majority of businesses are primitive buy and sell.

Eboofa:
It used to be that the standard cost of gas powered station was 1 million dollars per megawatt.....the dollar has depreciated like 50% in real terms since then.........A 200 megawatt will cost us in Anambra state something in the neighbourhood of 300 million dollars.........where are we going to get that kind of funding...........the exceptionally street smart Chinese know that the southeast can never get The federal government of Nigeria to gurantee such loans talk less of Anambra state...................exactly what happened with the funding of the 5 new airport terminals....the FG refused to guarantee loans for the Enugu airport terminal under stella oduah! ...............what do we do whilst we mark time trying to raise such a loan to fund a mega power plant?

Our best option is to go ahead with the projects we can actually fund within our financial capacity! We Africans waste a lot of time tackling projects we cannot sustain long term! Turning Anambra into a logistics hub is fundamental to whatever else we want to do! even the regulatory framework of the State electric commission, that was recently unbundled is becoming controversial............our best bet is to make haste slowly but steadily...........we need to keep moving.......standing still is retrogression!

Power is exactly what it sounds like. The basis of EVERYTHING. The more we live on band aid solutions the longer we suffer. Power is the difference between building those 6 story buildings you see in Onitsha and 20,30,40 storey buildings with elevators. Its what makes 50,000 sqm malls, hypermarkets and 1000 bed hospitals easy to function. You cannot scale with 80MW and diesel generator. You won't attract anything other than mini businesses and simple residential and commercial real estate.

Now you ask where will the state government find money to build a 300MW power plant. I hope you are aware that Adelekes Pacific Holdings a private entity built a 1,250MW power plant in Ondo. I hope you are aware that the Transcorp and Geregu power plants are floated on the NGX with over $1b market cap each. I hope you are aware that factories in Ogun build 5MW gas fired power plants and serve as offtakers of gas.

Its a no Brainer as the Americans would say so let's not over complicate things. Build the gas pipeline and if you have to, fund it with bond debt tied to revenue from gas sales.

But the easier way is use FGN money via SEDC to do what the FGN has dragged their feet on. They are building gas pipelines to West and North West totally sidestepping the East which is next door to gas fields. The East are happy to play second fiddle and sacrifice their youth to migration in order to win contracts.

So build the gaddem gas pipeline to Onitsha and Nnewi Soludo.

IgboProgress:
Simply partner with the best, not necessarily the Chinese. They can search for the best who are from Anambra, if no one is found, they try South East, if not in South then try other igbo states, if not in igbo states, try other friendly places.

In regards to focusing on pipelines before railway, I think it should be well researched or thought about so that the state or investor get reasonable return on investment or high value return for what is invested.
If you ask me, I would suggest they go for something with multiple uses and not just a single-purpose product or infrastructure for the transportation of gas. Railway could be use to transport alot of things, and is typically very profitable if you consider the fact the heavy goods such as certain raw materials can be easily transported for export and attract reasonable amount of fees.
If you want to buy something, it's better to go for those with multiple uses so you don't have to spend more money on more products to solve the problems that can be handled by the multi-purpose ones you bought. You may only go for the single purpose ones if you highly depend on them, if they are better or if you can't find the multipurpose alternatives.

Not saying the gas pipelines aren't important, but more concerned about cost and profitability. The state could simply build the pipelines where they are necessary (sort of local distribution hubs), like around industrial areas, then transport the gas from the source/sources via trains to the hubs for delivery to the industrial areas, homes etc. This should cost less to build and wouldn't require too much pipes or spaces which are likely very limited

Go and see what Chinese industrial layouts did for Ethiopia. Over 200,000 jobs created by factories built for export. Google Hawassa Industrial Layout.

We can learn from the Chinese instead of believing we can do it and creating badly planned spaces like our primitive markets.

Industrial layouts require power, water, security and access to good roads. The one thing Anambra lacks is power. The entire East lives off 350MW allocation from the National Grid. This means Anambra at best gets 80MW. For perspective, Nigerian Breweries alone generates 41MW in Nigeria at its factories.

To get industrial scale power gas pipelines are the best option. The Nigerian government is building the over 600km Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano pipeline to take gas to the north from which will generate 3,600MW of power for the three Northern cities. It cost about $2.8b and will be completed in November of this year. Onitsha and Nnewi is less than 100km from Shell gas pipelines in Ohaji North and this should be the priority.

Let me remind you that The West African Gas pipeline was built by Chevron to take Nigerian gas to Tema in Ghana. Through Obasanjos nepotism he connected it to Ogun State and that singular action has made Ogun state today the industrial powerhouse of Nigeria with over 70 large factories basing there including Nestlé, Proctor and Gamble.

SEDC should drop the fascination with railway and focus on power. You can't do anything with 80MW imported power and diesel generator. Togo with the same size population as Anambra has 280MW of INSTALLED capacity. Let that sink in. Or for better comparison take Tunisia with slightly larger population that has power generation capacity of 5,800MW. This is why Tunisias GDP per capita is 6x places like Togo and Nigeria.

Power is everything and a gas pipeline to Onitsha area should be a priority. If Sedc cannot fund it then the state government should pressure the FGN to get a loan to build it. It would be the single biggest economic multiplier for the state.

As for competing projects like railway. You need to produce before needing a heavy duty railway otherwise it will be a white elephant like the Abuja-Kaduna rail line built for $800m and which barely does $5m a year in revenue. Soludos proposal for a railway is nice but he needs to prioritize limited revenue. His single biggest achievement is the roads being built, although the way he is using local contractors guarantees that many will not last to spec.

But let him focus on roads, power and industrial layouts.