World Bank to Fund 1,000 Mini Solar Power Grids in Nigeria

Festus Akanbi

The World Bank yesterday disclosed that it would help fund the construction of 1,000 mini solar power grids in Nigeria in partnership with the government and private sector.

The President of the Bank, Mr. Ajay Banga revealed the plan during a visit to a mini-grid site on the outskirts of the capital Abuja.

 At the mini-grid site, Banga told reporters that nearly 150 mini-grids had been built, partly funded by the World Bank, to bring power to communities without access to electricity.

In a Reuters report, the president of the bank, who did not give a timeline for the power project, said: “We are putting another 300 in, but our ambition with the government is to go all the way to 1,000.

“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that are being invested. Now the idea is not for the World Bank to be the only person putting the money. We put part of the money like a subsidy.”

Nigeria, with a population of more than 200 million people, has installed a power generation capacity of 12,500 megawatts, but produces a fraction of that, leaving millions of households and businesses reliant on petrol and diesel generators.

Mini-grids, made up of small-scale electricity generating units, typically range in size from a few kilowatts to up to 10 MW, enough to power some 200 households.

World Bank data shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, 568 million people still lack access to electricity. Globally, nearly 8 out of 10 people without electricity live in Africa.

According to reports, Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency (REA) spent about N45.89 billion in providing electricity for rural communities through solar mini-grids. This covered 2000 electrification projects between 2020 and 2022, impacting the lives of five million Nigerians.

The Nigerian REA said the total installed capacity, under the capital projects, is estimated at over 6000MW. This is equivalent to more than a million connections.