Dar es Salaam: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has entered into a partnership with five Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) companies to advance the deployment of mini-grid projects throughout Nigeria. This agreement was finalized at the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the involved companies are Havenhill Synergy Ltd., Prado Power Ltd., PriVida Power Ltd., Sosai Renewable Energies Ltd., and Virtuitis Solaris Ltd. These firms are part of the Nigeria Distributed Access Through Renewable Energy Scale-up programme, known as Nigeria DARES, which is financed by the World Bank Group and managed by the Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria. The initiative aims to address the significant electricity access gap in Nigeria, where over 85 million people were without electricity as of 2021.
Currently, businesses and households connected to the national grid experience unreliable and insufficient power supply, often necessitating the use of expensive and environmentally damaging petrol and diesel generators. The new agreement seeks to alleviate this situation by bridging the electricity access gap and promoting a shift toward a sustainable and economically viable energy supply.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, praised the partnership between the IFC and the DRE companies during the signing ceremony. He highlighted the project’s potential to provide electricity access to 400,000 people, marking a significant step in tackling energy poverty. Edun also commended World Bank President Mr Ajay Banga and African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina for their leadership in driving this initiative.
Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, emphasized the necessity of collaboration between public and private sectors to achieve universal energy access in Africa. He noted the importance of partnerships in addressing Nigeria’s energy funding gap, estimated at 30 billion dollars. Adelabu stressed that achieving the country’s energy goals requires a combination of public and private funding, including equity and debt financing.
Ms Chantel Abdul, Chief Executive Officer of B. Solaris and a representative of the DRE companies, highlighted her organization’s commitment to expanding energy access in underserved areas. She acknowledged the support from development partners in the Distributed Energy Solutions (DES) programme, which aims to provide off-grid electricity to those in need. Abdul emphasized the importance of bridge financing provided by IFC, which is crucial for scaling up projects like the 500 planned mini-grids by Solaris in Nigeria over the next two years.