40MWh Gel Battery Supporting Africa

Background
In 2014, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the state government of Lagos joined forces to bring forth an ambitious project, Lagos Solar, to power public institutions by means of solar PV systems. Under the DFID tender and Lagos Solar, hundreds of schools along with almost a dozen Primary HealthCare Centers(PHC) throughout rural Lagos will be electrified by solar. This collaboration emphasises UK's strong investment in supporting Nigeria's path to a sustainable future, and demonstrates a commitment towards delivering clean and reliable access to energy to areas that are currently underserved.

Challenges
Nigeria is well-known for its vulnerabilities to widespread grid outages and unstable power. With a population of close to 175 million, the alarming reality of mass genset dependency or the sheer lack of access to the grid mean that tens of millions are far from a clean and stable source of power. The state of Lagos is the second most populous city in Nigeria, and is still rapidly growing. Many people reside in rural areas, and do not have any power supply at all. These populations suffer from a higher risk of poor health, whilst paying a large part of their livelihood for harmful and polluting energy.Communities that depend on diesel generators are impacted from greenhouse emissions, but what is even more disconcerting is that lives may be lost when there is fuel scarcity to run their only source of power. When this occurs, it's possible for hospitals to effectively stop running for over twelve hours. The expense is precious lives lost on life support or from the failure to receive medical treatment in time