- Sector : Renewable Energy
- Location : Nigeria
Overview
The SCF is providing technical assistance to a solar energy project in northern Nigeria, applying solar mesh grids and mini-grids with regular maintenance and a technology-driven fault monitoring system. The project aims to provide affordable solar power solutions to rural Nigerian communities.
Nigeria is the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa with a population of over 218 million. Over 86 million Nigerians have no access to electricity, with 73% of rural areas having no access to grid-connected electricity.
Aligning with the expanding scale of solar-powered mini-grids in recent years, the reduced equipment costs and increased panel efficiency make such infrastructure a critical solution for affordable electricity in Nigeria. With the support of the federal government’s rural electrification programs and incentives, private sector entrepreneurs can now enter the solar PV mini-grid space with business models attractive to domestic and international investors.
The project aims to develop a significant amount of solar mini-grids to reach nearly 64 communities in rural northern areas, including household consumers, commercial users, and public users (schools, hospitals, etc.). By installing a solar panel, a battery, and a Pod in every house/building, the technology-mesh grids can generate solar energy, connect close neighbors, and redistribute the energy efficiently and reliably.
The Challenge
As the largest off-grid population on the African continent with millions of people lacking access to grid electricity, the lack of liquidity in the grid-connected sectors is a big challenge for Nigeria. To achieve universal access to electricity by 2030, Nigeria would need to connect between 500,000 to 800,000 households per year. The national grid is not able to expand access outside of the current network infrastructure in the short term.
With an installed power capacity of 16,384 MW, the current electric system is only able to dispatch around 3,500 MW on most days. In consequence, approximately 66% of Nigerians are currently unserved or underserved by the national grid. Meanwhile, distributed natural gas generation as the mainstay for commercial and productive use is becoming more costly in terms of capital and carbon emissions.
SCF’s Involvement- Technical Assistance
To further support and inform the development of this project, the SCF’s Technical Assistance Facility is commissioning a feasibility study to conduct:
- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Rural Electrification Agency (REA) registration.
- The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) inspection
The SCF’s Technical Assistance Facility is also commissioning an Environmental and Social study to conduct stakeholder consultation with the communities.
Our Target Impact
The goals of this project are to reduce GHG emissions, create decent jobs, and empower women.
The project is expected to:
- Benefit 128,850 people (an estimated 21,800 households) and 24,445 metered connections across three States: Kaduna, Kogi, and Plateau.
- Reach 204 health and education centers to improve vaccine refrigeration, lighting for evening studies and teaching, neonatal care, delivery, etc.
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SDG 13 Climate Action
The project is a critical solution to provide efficient and renewable solar energy to rural areas and reduce the distributed natural gas generation. The project is expected to avoid approximately 50,000 tonnes of CO2e per year by reducing obtaining electricity from fossil fuels.
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SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
The employment rate in Nigeria is forecasted to be 82.02% in 2024. Meanwhile, some employed Nigerians are “underemployed”, which means that they work less than 40 hours per week but declare themselves willing and available to work more. The project is expected to:
- Create 400 jobs for both construction and operational positions
- Generate economic opportunities for women in covered communities at a projection of US$ 13.5 million, and across both genders at over US$34 million, by year 10 of operations.
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SDG 5 Gender Equality
Nigeria is ranked 130th out of 146 countries in gender equality due to its pervasive gender disparity, with a score of 0.64 in the 2023 gender index meaning women are 36% less likely to have equal employment opportunities than men. Only 26% of the population has access to clean cooking, and women are more often exposed to harmful cooking conditions and generally do not have many economic opportunities.
The project will improve cooking conditions with less air pollution and manual labor, increase household savings, business opportunities, and create direct jobs (at least 40% for women under project policy).
The SCF gender policy and 2X criteria will be applied in the process of this project for employment and leadership.
