The Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance (SUNREF), a green financing line for businesses developed by the French Development Agency (AFD) is launching a technical assistance facility for the development of green energy projects in Nigeria with a €70 million grant funded by the AFD and the European Union Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-ITF).

Through this grant, the SUNREF Nigeria programme will provide technical assistance to support the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), partner banks, and companies in Nigeria towards the development of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) projects.

In Nigeria where access to energy is far from universal, limited energy security and rising energy prices will likely continue to challenge the growth of Nigerian businesses in the near future. As a result, increasing the development of green energy is a key condition to a sustainable economic growth by ensuring reliable access to energy as well as enabling businesses and households to seize the opportunities of the ecological transition.

Related News

The SUNREF Nigeria programme seeks to improve access to energy through improved access to affordable finance for renewable energy technologies and energy efficient initiatives that will improve lives, increase economic opportunities, and support various sectors such as industry and agriculture.

The SUNREF initiative has been deployed in over 30 countries and successfully supported over 42 projects in partnership with about 70 banks to the tune of about €2.5 billion from the AFD, of which €1.2 billion has been paid

According to the organisation, the benefits of the SUNREF program include targeting entrepreneurs AFD cannot finance directly such as SMEs and individuals, using financial intermediaries as channels for disseminating these types of projects through reliable local counterparts with technical skills, and disseminating technical know-how and good practices through the technical assistance.

More from our Energy Column
Read Next
National grid to get additional 126MW to enhance power supply networks

National grid to get additional 126MW to enhance power supply networks

By Harrison Edeh • September 14, 2020

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date

Open In Whatsapp