Nigeria sets up committee to develop solar battery safety rules

The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated a 16-member inter-agency committee to develop a regulatory framework and safety standards for solar photovoltaic systems using lithium-ion batteries. The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology announced the panel on October 23, saying it would address installation, operation, maintenance and end-of-life disposal as solar adoption grows.

The committee is tasked with reviewing existing Nigerian Industrial Standards alongside relevant IEC and ISO standards, identifying regulatory gaps and recommending adaptations for Nigerian operating conditions. Its proposed minimum requirements would cover system design, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance and disposal. The ministry said the aim is to coordinate agencies responsible for standards, electrical safety, renewable energy, environment, fire safety, research and enforcement.

The panel will also recommend competency assessment and certification for solar installers, in collaboration with regulators. Other assignments include battery conformity assessment, product certification, traceability and market surveillance intended to address substandard equipment. These are recommendations still to be developed; the announcement does not say the committee has adopted a standard, set a compliance date or introduced a licensing rule.

The committee is chaired by the ministry’s permanent secretary, with the Director of Science and Technology Promotion as secretary. Members include representatives from the Energy Commission of Nigeria, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NESREA and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. The release gives no deadline for its report or estimate of the number of incidents the proposed framework is meant to prevent.

The announcement comes as distributed solar and battery storage expand electricity options, while faulty equipment or poor installation can create fire and electrical hazards. The ministry described safety oversight as necessary to protect people and property and maintain public confidence in renewable technologies. It did not quantify adoption, accident rates or the scale of substandard products, so those risks should not be treated as measured trends in this release.

The release groups the work into product standards, installer competence and controls across a system’s life cycle. That makes the committee’s assignment broader than equipment approval alone, but it remains a recommendation process. Relevant authorities will still need to decide whether and how to adopt any proposed standards.

The next verifiable steps will be the committee’s recommendations and any subsequent formal adoption by the relevant authorities. Until then, the reported action is creation of a multi-agency standards panel. The release does not establish that existing systems are newly prohibited or that users face an immediate regulatory change.

The committee is chaired by Permanent Secretary Mukhtar Yawale Muhammad, while Agoro Olayiwola, director of science and technology promotion, is secretary. The ministry said other participants are drawn from its chemical technology department and agencies including the Energy Commission of Nigeria, NASENI, NESREA and NERC. The membership links technical, energy, environmental and electricity-regulation bodies, though the announcement does not allocate responsibility for individual recommendations.

The planned standards would apply across the system life cycle, beginning with design and installation and continuing through commissioning, operation, maintenance and end-of-life disposal. Separate work on installer competence and licensing, battery conformity, product traceability and market surveillance would address who installs systems and how equipment is checked in the market. The ministry did not say whether these recommendations would be voluntary or mandatory once submitted.

The minister said the committee should provide practical, evidence-based recommendations within a stipulated timeframe, but the release did not state the length of that period. It also did not identify specific fires, defective products or enforcement cases that triggered the initiative. The source therefore supports the existence and remit of the committee, while leaving the policy timetable and the scale of the underlying safety problem unquantified.