No More Grid Collapses: Jeff Bezos, Rockefeller Move to Invest in Nigeria’s Electricity Industry
- A Rockefeller Foundation and Jeff Bezos-backed consortium has offered to invest in Nigeria’s electricity sector
- The move will see the consortium invest about $25 million in loans and grants to mini-grid developers
- If successful, the scheme will end the country’s constant power outages caused by unstable national grid
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Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.
A consortium supported by key personalities such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund is ready to invest in Nigeria’s energy sector to address Nigeria’s decades of constant power outages plaguing the country.
The initiative, under the Global Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), a collaboration between the Rockefeller Foundation, Bezos Earth Fund, and Ikea Foundation, is driving the programme to deploy solar mini-grids to address the country’s continued power cuts.
Source: Getty Images
One of the projects is sited in Ogun
The first mini-grid, launched three years ago, has already proven its potential to augment the erratic power supply from the national grid.
The decentralised energy systems use solar power to generate electricity to keep businesses and households operational.
Bloomberg reports that the group is building two more mini-grids and has received funding from a fourth partner to grow the projects across Nigeria.
According to the report, Mohammad Wakil, country delivery lead for GEAPP, disclosed in an interview that one of the projects is sited in Ogun state.
Nigeria’s national grid collapsed three times
The project will boost Nigeria’s energy sector as the country faces constant power cuts caused by an unstable national grid.
In October, the national grid collapsed thrice a week, throwing businesses and households into darkness.
The national grid’s instability is reportedly due to few functional plants, as nine out of the 22 plants account for 80% of the energy supply to the grid.
GEAPP’s utility innovation manager, Fauzia Odediji, said under-served communities require stable power in their homes and businesses.
Reports say GEAPP’S Demand Aggregation for Renewable Energy (DART) scheme aggregates the needs of multiple developers to negotiate better prices for solar equipment.
Grants, loans are available for developers
Also, DART operates a $25 million financing facility that allows developers to import equipment in dollars and repay the loans in naira when their projects generate revenue.
It provides grants, loans, and technical assistance to mini-grid developers, leveraging a rule the government implemented in 2023, allowing mini-grids to operate alongside the national grids.
Wakil said the programme's success had attracted the World Bank, which pledged $130 million to develop similar facilities.
The site in Ogun State is a one-megawatt solar mini-grid constructed by Darway, a Nigerian mini-grid firm.
Nigeria gets US investor for electricity project
Before the consortium's investment move, the Federal Ministry of Power and the US Agency for International Development had signed a memorandum of agreement on Wednesday, July 10, to guarantee Nigeria's commitment to electrical sector reforms, market openness, liquidity, and expanding access to cheap power.
Both parties declared this in a statement released by the Ministry of Power in Abuja, as reported by The Punch.
The MOU aims to support the implementation of an N115.2 billion US government grant-funded technical assistance program intended to support power sector development and reforms in Nigeria.
FG gives orders to reduce electricity supply to 3 African countries
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is set to enhance power supply to domestic consumers following its orders directing the System Operator (SO) to cap supplies to international customers by 6 per cent of domestic supplies.
The affected countries include Togo, Benin Republic and the Niger Republic.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng
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