A consortium supported by key personalities such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund is ready to invest in Nigeriaâs energy sector to address Nigeriaâs decades of constant power outages plaguing the country.
The initiative, under the Global Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), a collaboration between the Rockefeller Foundation, Bezos Earth Fund, and Ikea Foundation, is driving the programme to deploy solar mini-grids to address the countryâs continued power cuts.
The first mini-grid, launched three years ago, has already proven its potential to augment the erratic power supply from the national grid.
The decentralised energy systems use solar power to generate electricity to keep businesses and households operational.
Bloomberg reports that the group is building two more mini-grids and has received funding from a fourth partner to grow the projects across Nigeria.
According to the report, Mohammad Wakil, country delivery lead for GEAPP, disclosed in an interview that one of the projects is sited in Ogun state.
The project will boost Nigeriaâs energy sector as the country faces constant power cuts caused by an unstable national grid.
In October, the national grid collapsed thrice a week, throwing businesses and households into darkness.
The national gridâs instability is reportedly due to few functional plants, as nine out of the 22 plants account for 80% of the energy supply to the grid.
GEAPPâs utility innovation manager, Fauzia Odediji, said under-served communities require stable power in their homes and businesses.
Reports say GEAPPâS Demand Aggregation for Renewable Energy (DART) scheme aggregates the needs of multiple developers to negotiate better prices for solar equipment.
Also, DART operates a $25 million financing facility that allows developers to import equipment in dollars and repay the loans in naira when their projects generate revenue.
It provides grants, loans, and technical assistance to mini-grid developers, leveraging a rule the government implemented in 2023, allowing mini-grids to operate alongside the national grids.
Wakil said the programme’s success had attracted the World Bank, which pledged $130 million to develop similar facilities.
The site in Ogun State is a one-megawatt solar mini-grid constructed by Darway, a Nigerian mini-grid firm.
Before the consortium’s investment move, the Federal Ministry of Power and the US Agency for International Development had signed a memorandum of agreement on Wednesday, July 10, to guarantee Nigeria’s commitment to electrical sector reforms, market openness, liquidity, and expanding access to cheap power.Â
Both parties declared this in a statement released by the Ministry of Power in Abuja, as reported by The Punch.Â
The MOU aims to support the implementation of an N115.2 billion US government grant-funded technical assistance program intended to support power sector development and reforms in Nigeria.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is set to enhance power supply to domestic consumers following its orders directing the System Operator (SO) to cap supplies to international customers by 6 per cent of domestic supplies.
