Aspire Capital Group, through its GreenPower Africa has announced today that it will be adding solar panels to its catalogue of home energy technology soon to be made available in West Africa — with the potential to provide affordable and reliable electricity and reduce customers’ electricity bills.

GreenPower Africa is looking to make 500 installations in 2023, in an initial pilot project in Nigeria with the service to launch across the country next year and thereafter across sub-Saharan Africa.

The new offering comes in collaboration with our leading industry partners who already installs air-source heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers and smart meters across the world. ACG projects that its move into domestic photovoltaics will create hundreds of green jobs within their renewables division across the country.

Alongside offering solar panel installations, GreenPower Africa customers will also be able to choose from a range of complementary solar batteries. This will allow them to store the green energy that they produce and potentially sell it to the national grid as and when it is possible to do so.

Aspire Capital Group CEO, Steve Okoekpen said ‘’the firm together with its technical partners has had success “in scaling and installing huge swatches of smart, green home energy technology and we are optimistic at the possibility of installing the last piece of the puzzle — solar photovoltaic.’’

GreenPower Africa has reiterated its long-term commitment to providing affordable and reliable renewable energy to everyone across Africa.

Aspire Capital Group’s team in Nigeria hosted a Contractors’ Forum focused on greater collaboration on health and safety across the industry.

Under the theme “Working together to increase leadership, communication, and cooperation towards the achievement of Zero Tolerance Policy”, the aim was a commitment to a future with zero health and safety incidents. More than 100 partners attended this first edition of Aspire Capital Group’s Contractors’ Health and Safety Forum in Nigeria and collaborated to discuss the key current health and safety topics across the country’s energy sector.

Team members from our Nigeria’s office, project sites and leadership were joined by a representative of NNPC and colleagues from the oil and gas industry, professional bodies, stakeholders, contractors and other partner organisations.

The Contractors’ Health and Safety Forum has previously been held in a number of locations where Aspire Capital Group operates, but this was our first nationwide Forum in Nigeria. A committed audience of industry experts and leaders spent the day participating in different interactive forums, with objectives to:

• Help all parties work even closer on Health and Safety by improving leadership, communication, and cooperation
• Encourage collaboration and the sharing of industry knowledge, experience and best practices
• Stimulate new discussions on how to drive a positive health and safety culture and agree on collective commitments and actions

Esome Emmanuel, Aspire Capital Group’s Country Manager, Nigeria said:

“Health and Safety are of paramount importance at ACG. The wellbeing and safety of our employees, partners and everyone we work with is at the heart of our business. I would like to thank all the respective leaders who participated in the Forum. A good health and safety culture always begins at the top of any organisation and it’s important that we drive this together.”

A number of key topics were covered, with programme sessions structured around Life Saving Rules. These provide clear actions to protect people, no matter the work site. Life Saving Rules include Driving, with vehicle related incidents remaining the single largest cause of industry global fatalities and driving continuing to be one of Nigeria’s and indeed Africa’s highest risk activities. Employee engagement, transparency in reporting and the importance of being a caring organisation were other important themes at this successful ACG Contractors’ Health & Safety Forum in Nigeria.

The UK’sNational Apprenticeship Week 2022 being held from 7th to 13th February 2022 brings together everyone passionate about apprenticeships to celebrate the value, benefit, and opportunity that apprenticeships bring.

The theme for this year’s National Apprenticeship Week 2022 is ‘Build the Future’ and Aspire Capital Group’s Oilworkcareers is committed to looking for talented and enthusiastic apprentices to join them and their partners and play a part in building a low carbon future.

Natasha Reid, Chief Talent Officer at ACG said, “We are delighted to announce that this year our engineering apprentices at ACG have qualified and been offered opportunities within our partner organisations. The work that our 15 apprentices, all in their early twenties, have put in over the last few years has been immense but it has paid off.  This builds on our approach last year of securing roles for all apprenticeships.”

The dedication and hard work put in by the apprentices has ended in the success and achievement in the following qualifications:

BTEC Level 3 Science Industry Maintenance technician

BTEC Level 3 Science Manufacturing technician

NVQ Level 3 Diploma in process/maintenance engineering

As a partner in the UK’s oil, gas and energy industry, an apprenticeship with ACG is the ideal way to start your career. We are looking for talented and enthusiastic apprentices to join us at our partner organisations and play a part in building our future. This year we are recruiting for roles in the Engineering and Manufacturing, Information Technology, Commercial and Business Administration areas.

Following ACG’s recent partnership with the Oman Hydrogen Centre (OHC) to build the Sultanate’s capabilities in the renewable energy sector, our team hosted a two-day training programme to upskill and develop young nationals for careers in new energies.

Held at Seeb Training Centre, Muscat, 15 Omani graduates from different universities across the country attended courses under the themes Process Safety Management and New Energies. From the first session, the trainees gained insights about key methodologies used to identify safety defects in energy facilities through conducting risk assessments as well as safety analysis.

The second session involved subject matter and technical experts, sharing knowledge on the principles of hydrogen and ammonia production, the challenges of green hydrogen developments and the lessons learned from active projects.

Key guest speakers showcased proprietary technology with the potential to support low carbon hydrogen development in Oman. CeraPhi also highlighted the use of its CeraPhiWell Advanced Closed Loop Geothermal solution for depleted oil wells and Zero Carbon presented on turning waste Methane into hydrogen and graphene.

OHC is the first research facility of its kind in the Sultanate, supporting the country in accelerating its transition to renewable energy. The centre provides an international hub for research, technology, education, industry applications and economy, aligned with Oman Vision 2040.

Dr Ahmed Ameri, ACG’s Country Manager – Oman, said:

“Our collaboration with the Oman Hydrogen Centre aims to empower the future generation through developing studies related to renewable energies and green hydrogen. Through these sessions, the Omani young graduates had the opportunity to gain technical training that included hands-on sessions with experienced experts in the field. Thank you to everyone involved for all your efforts in making this event a success.”

While Dr. Sausan Al Riyami, Director of Oman Hydrogen Centre, remarked that:

“Remarkable efforts from governmental units, industries, and scientists take place towards accelerating the energy transition and a green economy, with the objective to achieve net-zero emission by 2050. OHC is proud to cooperate with ACG and other partners, and jointly we are aiming to develop and enable the building of our Omani talents in energy sector.”

We at ACG join the world to celebrate – World Environment Day on June 5, which is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and held annually since 1973, the event has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet.

All over the world, governments, businesses, organisations, civil society, schools, celebrities, cities and communities are encouraged to focus their efforts on the most pressing environmental issues confronting our planet. More importantly, raising awareness and celebrating environmental action.

The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘’Only One Earth’’, highlighting the impact on nature from the burning of the Brazilian rainforests, wildfires in the United States and Australia to the locust infestations across East Africa, melting glaciers and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, as civilization pushes further into nature’s territory. The campaign also calls for collective, transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet.

As an energy resources development company, Aspire Capital Group impact significantly on the environment not only from the Greenhouse Gases we emit through our operations, but also through the end use of our products.  We are taking considerable and decisive steps to address our own operational carbon footprint in line with our revised Climate Policy.

In line with the theme of this year’s World Environment Day – Only One Earth, ACG is redoubling its efforts and commitment to significantly limit the impact of our operations on the natural environment.

We continue to avoid operations in World Heritage Sites and our operations are assessed by independent monitoring groups, consistently adhering to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards.