BusinessDay 26 Feb 2018
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Monday <strong>26</strong> <strong>Feb</strong>ruary <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
33<br />
FEATURE<br />
needs, according to solar operators.<br />
Nigeria’s solar PV target of 30,000 MW according<br />
to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs),<br />
would require a dizzying amount of lead-acid batteries.<br />
Currently, for every 6 kilowatts of installed solar PV<br />
about 8 units of batteries (400 Amp, 48 V) are needed.<br />
A quick calculation indicates that to generate the<br />
30,000 megawatts (MW) about 40 million batteries will<br />
need to be installed initially. The typical lifetime of a<br />
battery is only about three years, compared to 20-25<br />
years average lifespan of the PV panels. For 30,000 MW<br />
solar PV capacity this would mean over the lifetime<br />
about 280 million batteries will have to be installed,<br />
replaced, recovered and then recycled.<br />
Over 80 percent of the batteries used in solar energy<br />
generation are imported from China and there was<br />
no operator who confirmed that they were not using<br />
lead acid batteries. The alternative, lithium batteries<br />
is yet to gain a foothold in the Nigerian off-grid market<br />
because it cost twice as much to purchase. Margins<br />
are low and many projects are financed by debt which<br />
can’t be recouped in 5 years, hence operators prefer<br />
lead acid battery to meet their bottom-line.<br />
Lithium batteries deliver longer life cycles, shorter<br />
recharge period, but it has very low economic viability<br />
of recycling hence disposal in landfills which also<br />
results in environmental hazards.<br />
“The environmental impact of batteries as the off<br />
grid energy sector scales in Nigeria is a big concern<br />
to All On and something we consider in our investment<br />
decisions,” says Wiebe Boer, CEO of All On,<br />
who recently signed a funding agreement with some<br />
operators.<br />
Poor knowledge of EPR<br />
Many of the solar operators interviewed for this story<br />
have not heard of the EPR hence asking them about<br />
their level of compliance is the equivalent of asking a<br />
man born blind to describe a rainbow.<br />
The EPR shifts the responsibility for waste management<br />
from government to private industry, obliging<br />
producers, importers and/or sellers to internalise<br />
waste management costs in their product prices and<br />
ensuring the safe handling of their products.<br />
According to the National Environmental Standards<br />
and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA),<br />
a government agency that regulates hazardous waste,<br />
a properly implemented EPR is a driving force in<br />
waste avoidance and effective pollution prevention<br />
and reduction in many industrial sectors towards the<br />
promotion of green economy. It offers a framework for<br />
a partnership approach between Government, business,<br />
and the community to work towards zero waste.<br />
The EPR is the gold standard for managing ULABs<br />
in Germany, China, United States, Netherlands and<br />
South Africa among others.<br />
Understandably, recyclers and collectors bear<br />
the primary responsibility in the EPR. Recyclers are<br />
required to mandatorily subscribe to the concept,<br />
ensure safe management of waste, design and implement<br />
appropriate EPR programme and administer<br />
recovery and recycling programmes, register with a<br />
Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), who<br />
monitors design of EPR, renew registration annually<br />
and keep proper inventory of products.<br />
Collectors on the other hand, are required to<br />
register with a collection Centre, work closely with<br />
operators of collection centres and consumers, use<br />
approved transportation system/carts, ensure the use<br />
of appropriate PPE, receive compensation from major<br />
collectors or operators of collection centres, provide<br />
Astevens Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Academy trains installers<br />
Batteries used to power an off grid house in Abuja by Blue Carmel Energy Ltd<br />
compensation or payment for consumers; and<br />
promote any other actions towards the successful<br />
implementation of the EPR Programme.<br />
Solar energy operators as importers/<br />
consumers of lead acid battery are required<br />
to dispose them through legal or appropriate<br />
means and promote any other actions towards<br />
the successful implementation of the EPR Programme<br />
which includes ensuring that informal<br />
collectors adhere to best practices. They have<br />
the obligation too to find reputable, formal<br />
operators to sell their used batteries.<br />
“We are currently discussing with Union<br />
Autoparts and are in the process of reaching a<br />
formal agreement with them on disposal of our<br />
batteries,” says Femi Adeyemo, a co-founder of<br />
Arnergy Solar Ltd, whose operation will start<br />
generating thousands of ULABs in three years.<br />
However, Union Autoparts Manufacturing<br />
Company, based in Nnewi has a weird problem.<br />
The company has Africa’s biggest recycling<br />
plant, equipped with topnotch recycling<br />
facilities installed at a cost of over N3billion<br />
but the company’s workers are seen milling<br />
around during my visit to the plant due to an<br />
inability to secure used batteries for recycling.<br />
However, some operators say their charges are<br />
not competitive.<br />
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the Federal Government<br />
has developed a National Environmental<br />
Regulations with provision for the EPR. The<br />
NESREA developed operational guidelines<br />
that explore the use of economic instrument<br />
to ramp up compliance but enforcement as<br />
regards ULABs has not received the kind of<br />
attention e-waste has received.<br />
The battery producer is tasked with monitoring<br />
of their products from cradle to cradle<br />
and administer recovery and recycling programmes<br />
through the PRO. On the other hand,<br />
the government would monitor compliance,<br />
ban designated hazardous materials from use<br />
in products and/or disposal, establish relevant<br />
environmental standards, register and accredit<br />
recyclers as Authorised Treatment Facilities<br />
(ATF), and issue permits.<br />
But this is yet to have desired impact. “The<br />
Agency (NESREA) is awaiting the sector players<br />
to organise themselves and bring up a plan for<br />
EPR implementation and submit to NESREA<br />
for review and approval,” Miranda Amachree,<br />
director, Inspection and Enforcement Department<br />
of NESREA said in a presentation at a<br />
workshop on the subject last year.<br />
Not much progress seems to have been<br />
made on this front. Lawrence Anukam, director<br />
general of the NESREA in an interview on<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 21, in his office in Abuja, said the sector<br />
players have now nominated a PRO and his<br />
parastatal was ramping up enforcement, calling<br />
on states to partner with the organisation. But<br />
the next day, when the NESREA met with the<br />
group, it was discovered that operators are yet<br />
to fully agree on the modalities for setting up<br />
the PRO.<br />
Operators agree reforms are necessary,<br />
“There is need for a formal regulation of the<br />
sector, because it is growing beyond the volume<br />
anticipated,” says Yusuf Sulaiman, MD/<br />
Key stakeholders in Nigeria’s EPR programme<br />
Source: NESREA<br />
CEO of Blue Carmel Energy in a presentation<br />
at a workshop on ULABs last year. His ULABs<br />
annual generation of 6,000 units is worth over<br />
N600million.<br />
Boer thinks so too, “The industry needs to<br />
establish strict industry standards and enforce<br />
them. We are interested in investing in companies<br />
with a recycling solution as well as in<br />
supporting efforts to set to set the standards.<br />
We have to get this right now that the industry<br />
is still nascent.”<br />
A model that works<br />
For solar energy operators, the example of<br />
Mobisol provides a teaching lesson for proper<br />
management of ULABs. Mobisol, a leading<br />
provider of decentralized solar solutions, has<br />
joined hands with e-waste and battery recyclers<br />
in all operational countries.<br />
The company is partnering with Phenix<br />
Recycling in Tanzania, Enviroserve in Rwanda,<br />
and Associated Battery Manufacturers (ABM)<br />
in Kenya. All three recycling partners have<br />
demonstrated a strong commitment to establishing<br />
a comprehensive recycling network for<br />
off-grid solar components, such as waste from<br />
solar products, consumer electronics and leadbased<br />
batteries.<br />
This milestone comes at a time where the<br />
off-grid solar industry increasingly acknowledges<br />
the importance of finding end-of-life<br />
solutions for its products. In order to steer this<br />
urgent issue with clarity and transparency, Mobisol<br />
positions itself as one of the first market<br />
players to openly communicate its recycling<br />
infrastructure.<br />
E-waste recycling was one of the emerging<br />
topics of discussion at the Off-Grid Solar Forum<br />
in Hong Kong last month. At the event, attended<br />
by over 600 sector representatives, the importance<br />
of collaboration and exchange in order to<br />
improve existing methods for safe disposal of<br />
e-waste and batteries was strongly emphasized.<br />
Facing the immense challenge of the informal<br />
recycling sector that uses practices which<br />
do not meet acceptable, sustainable standards,<br />
Mobisol is pushing for recyclers and off-grid<br />
companies to work together to focus on so-<br />
cial and environmental standards and create<br />
awareness for sound waste management in<br />
countries they work in.<br />
“ABM is very content to have found an<br />
ambitious, environmentally conscious partner<br />
in Mobisol. The decentralized solar industry<br />
is one that will face further challenges with<br />
regards to recycling in the future; experienced,<br />
long-standing recyclers like ABM have the<br />
responsibility to provide clear and transparent<br />
end-of-life solutions to those who are willing<br />
to tackle the challenge of informal and inappropriate<br />
practices sustainably,” says Guy Jack,<br />
managing director of ABM.<br />
The solar energy industry in Nigeria is only<br />
beginning to take off and operators are still<br />
reporting minimal volumes of ULABs, but this<br />
will grow over time, making this the best time<br />
to begin to put in place strategies to manage<br />
the toxic waste. As they say in Zambia, it is too<br />
late to fatten the cow on a market day, therefore<br />
it seems wise to bale this water now, that it is<br />
only ankle deep.<br />
According to the communiqué released at<br />
Heinrich Boll Stiftung Nigeria workshop on<br />
ULABs management last year, stakeholders<br />
resolved that renewable energy companies<br />
must be encouraged to deliver ULABs to recognised<br />
and authorised ULABs collectors and<br />
recyclers. Many say they would commit to this<br />
but it remains to be seen how much commitment<br />
they would give.