• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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ENGIE’s acquisition of Mobisol presents leverage to speed-up Nigeria’s rural electrification

Rural electrification

ENGIE, a decentralised energy company’s acquisition of Mobisol, a pioneer of off-grid solar solutions presents partnership opportunity for Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency that seeks to drive rural electrification through off-grid decentralised solutions but lacks adequate funds.

About 80 million Nigerians living in 8000 villages across the country lack access to electricity, the World Bank says.

The company already has significant activities in off-grid electrification in Africa. With its subsidiary Fenix International, it provides access to energy and financial services via its solar home systems to over 500,000 customers, improving the quality of life for over 2.5 million people in Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique.

“Access to finance and funding for projects remains a challenge for off-grid private sector developers around the world. In most cases, the projects have a viability gap that requires support from financial institutions, government agencies, state governments and donor agencies,”  Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director, Rural Electrification Agency said in an interview last year. “We are addressing the challenge through a number of interventions, the Rural Electrification fund, Nigerian Electrification Project with the World Bank and also working with the African Development Bank (AFDB).”

Universal electrification is the 7th of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that the global community has committed to achieving by 2030. Currently more than 600 million people have no access to electricity in Africa and by 2030 the continent is expected to be home to 80 percent of the world’s off-grid population, according to the International Energy Agency.

Founded in 2011, Mobisol employs over 500 people as well as approximately 1,200 contractors. Mobisol has operations in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya and has installed more than 150,000 solar home systems, providing clean and reliable energy to over 750,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

With the acquisition of Mobisol, ENGIE will be offering solar home systems in 3 additional countries, complementing the six countries where it is already present with its solar home system company Fenix International. Mobisol’s focus on productive use of products, combined with Fenix’s inclusive home solar power systems, will enable ENGIE to offer an unparalleled range of affordable energy products as well as extending its customer base from rural to urban areas. The closing of the acquisition of Mobisol will happen once all approvals of the relevant regulatory bodies are received.

Isabelle Kocher, ENGIE CEO said “With the acquisition of Mobisol, ENGIE expands its access to a market of millions who are not connected to the grid and establishes itself as the market leader on the continent. We trigger economic activities for households and entrepreneurs who generate additional income once they are connected.”

ENGIE’s PowerCorner supplies affordable electricity to rural populations through smart mini-grids powered by solar energy and battery storage. PowerCorner also offers 24/7 energy services to households, local businesses, and public services in villages across Tanzania and Zambia. All of these services are enabled by digital financial solutions such as mobile money and Pay As You Go technologies.

With ENGIE Power Corner, Fenix, and now Mobisol, “we will pave the way for a new generation of affordable energy services, in line with our strategy, focused on the acceleration of the zero-carbon transition,” Kocher said.

 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU