The World Bank has granted a loan of N107.4bn, for the development of rural electrification projects in Nigeria.
The World Bank announced Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) as the implementing organisation of the Federal Government is in charge of the loan, after its approval in April 2018.
This was stated at the fourth Mini Grid Action Learning Event; ‘Up-scaling Mini Grids for Low-cost and Timely Access to Electricity’, held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Benmessaoud, represented by the World Bank Global Lead, Energy Access, Mr. Mac Cosgrove-Davies said over one billion people lacked access to electricity worldwide, noting that Sub-Saharan Africa is home to about 600 million of these people.
“In Nigeria, 80 million people are without access and millions more suffer from poor service. The REA expects mini grids to fill a substantial portion of that gap, covering up to 8,000 villages nationwide”.
The Managing Director of REA, Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, said the target of the agency is 10,000 mini grids, which when completed would generate about 3,000 megawatts off-grid electricity.
“Some sites could be 150 kilowatts, some others 20KW, but 10,000 (mini grids) is just a guide because people always need figures when we need to drive something home. So it could be less than that, but if we can achieve 3,000MW on off-grid, which will be close to the power generated on-grid, we will be very happy”.
According to her, “anybody who wants to invest can come and invest in the market; it is not just for the World Bank”.
Ogunbiyi stated that businesses in Nigeria spend up to N40n annually to generate unstable and expensive electricity.
REA would also be working with the private sector to provide off grid power supply strategies for businesses in the country.
She added that about N9bn profit could be earned from private investments in Solar Home Systems (SHS) and mini grid systems.
