The Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has announced a partnership with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to accelerate renewable energy in Nigeria, a new statement the electrification agency has revealed.
The initiative, which is supported by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), is expected to boost the country’s GDP by energizing its Agriculture Program to catalyse economic development and improve rural livelihoods by connecting mini-grids and agricultural productivity.
RMI is an independent non-profit focused on transforming the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all, and officially launched the Energizing Agriculture Program (EAP).
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The EAP is a three-year initiative with the GEAPP that is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation to encourage the use of mini-grid electricity in agricultural productive uses (i.e., those that drive local economic growth). The EAP focuses on enabling market-led solutions and breaking down the barriers that exist between electrification and agricultural development.
Increasing agricultural productive use at mini-grid sites is critical to uplifting low-income communities in Nigeria by increasing demand, jobs, and small and medium enterprise growth, said the statement.
As a result, the EAP will directly contribute to these efforts by deploying productive use appliances in rural areas and proving out commercial models to scale comparable initiatives at mini-grid locations across Nigeria, according to the statement.
