With Nigeria’s struggling national grid lacking in capacity to power the entire country in a period of pandemic and economic lockdown, Nigeria’s renewable energy sector is offering solutions to Nigeria’ s chronic energy shortages and big investment opportunities for SMEs.
Nigeria’s power grid has come under pressure in recent weeks most especially after an extension of an initial 2-week mandatory lockdown of Lagos, Ogun and Abuja announced by the federal government to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
“The repercussions of any premature end to the lockdown action are unimaginable,” President Muhammadu Buhari said in his address on Monday, April 13.
For many Nigerians, the “unimaginable” of being cooped up at home in this mandatory lockdown include a poor power supply.
Faced with fears of rising economic hardship and a spike in coronavirus cases in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria is turning to renewable energy in a big way.
In the past few weeks, various government and private sector efforts have begun to find alternative energy solutions to keep the lights on in homes and hospitals around the country.
A government agency in the ministry of Power charged with improving energy access for rural communities, Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in partnership with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) made available a $200 million development fund to ramp up solar home systems and solar mini-grid projects to connect over 500,000 people across 105,000 households to energy supply.
REA said it will be supplying solar home systems and mini-grids to primary healthcare and isolation centers across the country. The agency handed over two completed solar hybrid mini-grid plants in Abuja and another two in Lagos, while two other completed solar hybrid mini-grids are slated to be handed over on today in Ogun state.
Also, Nigeria-based provider of merchant infrastructure, Rensource launched a digital platform that helps retailers get discovered quickly while enabling servicing of customer orders online during the ongoing lockdown that has disrupted global supply chains.
“Energy has always been our core business but in light of the pandemic, we see the opportunity to help small businesses who are the backbone of our economy survive by gaining access to consumers online,” Anu Adasolum, Chief Operating Officer at Rensource said.
All On, an off-grid energy impact investing company seeded by Shell, announced a postponement of all Q2 2020 interest payments on current interest-bearing investments.
All On earlier announced the COVID-19 Solar Relief (CSR) Fund in March, which made available N180 million to four off-grid energy companies to provide solar power to emergency health facilities in cities around Nigeria, through various private sector initiatives.
The companies: Auxano, Arnergy, GVE and Lumos, were selected based on their immediate preparedness to respond with products, inventory, technical capabilities and their efficient delivery track record, according to a statement by the company.
Recent activities have shown Nigeria’s solar mini-grid and off-grid solutions as well as other alternative energy sources can serve not only present energy needs due to the ability to scale the solution quickly but can also generate by-products like employment at a time where the consequences of the pandemic are already present or looming.
The federal government so far has attempted to improve power supply during this period announcing a N200 billion($518 million) gas supply injection to help GenCos improve power generation. Conversations are also said to have been ongoing, through a Stimulus Bill, to provide electricity at no cost to the public for a two-month period.
Africa’s most populous country needs more than 10 times its current electricity output to guarantee supply for its 200 million people – nearly half of whom have no access at all, according to its former minister of power Babatunde Fashola.
