The Rockefeller Foundation, Ikea Foundation and Jeff Bezos are set to boost power supply in Nigeria under their organisation Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).
According to Bloomberg reports GEAPP, formed in 2021, has a programme, demand aggregation for renewable technology (DART), which lowers solar equipment costs by pooling developers’ needs and also offers a $25 million financing facility for equipment imports, repayable in naira.
“GEAPP provides grants, loans, and technical assistance to mini-grid developers, taking advantage of a government rule introduced last year that allows mini-grids to operate alongside national grids. This programme’s success has led the World Bank to pledge $130 million for similar facilities,” Muhammad Wakil Wakil, GEAPP’s country delivery executive said during an interview at one of the project sites in Ogun State.
“The site in Ogun State is a one-megawatt solar mini-grid built by Darway Coast, a Nigerian mini-grid company. By the end of the year, it will provide the local community with 24-hour electricity, replacing the eight hours currently supplied by Ikeja Electric Plc.”
He explained that, initially, GEAPP aims to build a pilot project in each of the regions served by Nigeria’s 11 power distribution companies (DisCos), with a long-term plan to facilitate 10 gigawatts of mini-grids, however, the programme complements efforts to establish mini-grids in areas without access to the national power grid.
“We need hundreds or thousands of these kinds of projects across Nigeria to end energy poverty,” Wakil said.
“We have shown it’s a viable business model.”
According to the report, Fatima Haliru, power purchase manager at Ikeja Electric, said everybody is open to creating energy and selling to customers based on the provision of the Electricity Act.
Haliru said instead of engaging Darway as competitors, “it’s better to engage them as partners”.
