Rural Electrification Agency to establish renewable asset management coy -MD

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) says it has gotten approval to establish a renewable asset management company that will sustain its interventions.

The Managing Director of REA, Abba Aliyu, said this at the signing of a collaborative agreement with some Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs) in Abuja on Monday.

According to Mr Aliyu, the company is expected to have mega assets, including infrastructure close to $500 million deployed to universities.

”This company will warehouse these assets and REA will leverage on the assets to raise close to N1 trillion so that we will continue to intervene even if there is no availability of loans and grants.

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”The country will be standing on its own to continue to drive electricity access and infrastructure in many years to come.

“So this is something that we have started and we intend to make sure that it comes to reality before the end of the year,” he said.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu has approved N100 billion for REA to implement the National Public Sector Solarisation project.

He said the project was a federal government initiative to reduce the cost of governance.

”The analysis that we have seen of budget implementation shows that a number of public institutions spend a lot of money to buy diesel or to pay for electricity.

”To reduce the cost of governance, REA secured the project which will start in the next few weeks,” he said.

Mr Aliyu also said that the discussion with the Japanese International Development Corporation to secure additional co-financing of $200 million had reached an advanced stage.

He said that the fund would be added to the $750 million Distributed Access through Renewable Energy, making the total funding $950 million.

“Three weeks ago, we were in Japan with the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu and that discussion is almost concluded, and that funding will be available,” he said.

Speaking on the signing of the agreement, Mr Aliyu said that the agency was committed to electrifying Nigerian homes through renewable energy projects.

“What we are doing today by signing this agreement with RESCOs is to ensure Nigerians have access to electricity,” he said.

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Speaking on behalf of other RESCOs, Ademola Ogunbanjo, the president of Oando Clean Energy said that the company would be rolling the first 600 megawatts in 2026.

Mr Ogunbanjo said that the company would supply renewable energy to not just Nigeria, but also the continent as a whole.

“It will also be the first on the African continent solar modular assembly plant with a recycling line,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the agreement was signed between REA and eight Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs).

The companies are Ashipa Electric Limited, De-Janees Concept Ltd, Fax Power Ltd, M&BH Power Ltd, Okra Solar PTY Ltd, Oando Clean Energy, Sosai Renewable Energy Ltd and Weight Nigeria Ltd.

(NAN)