President Tinubu is positioning Nigeria as Africa's renewable energy hub

In this interview Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Dr Abba Aliyu speaks on Nigeria’s emerging leadership in the renewable energy space and how the country is becoming a major exporter of solar-PV panels. He also provides updates on the federal government’s plan to provide electricity to 17.5 million Nigerians in three years.

Here are excerpts:

How is the present administration accelerating the deployment of renewable energy as an alternative source of power?

For the first time, the federal government is positioning renewable energy as the primary alternative source of electricity because it is the most cost-efficient, sustainable and economically viable means of powering the country. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a structured programme has been approved to provide electricity to 17.5 million Nigerians in just three years.

This is to be achieved through the largest publicly funded renewable energy financing in the world, the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES), a $750 million programme which will catalyze $1.1 billion in private sector financing. We are deploying 1,350 mini-grids; 250 of these are designed as interconnected mini-grids. Also, for the first time, Nigeria has become an exporter of PV panels, shipping Lagos-made panels to countries like Ghana.

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What is on the ground to ensure the sustainability of these mega infrastructure projects?

We have two main strategies for sustainability. The first is the Renewable Asset Management Company(RAMCO). The Minister of Power approved this PPP (Public-Private Partnership) company to manage infrastructure by employing specialized operation and maintenance firms. The second strategy is focused on private sector investment. For the 519 mini-grids currently in development, the private sector provides their own financing alongside ours. This is because they have the technical capacity that can ensure the long-term operation of the infrastructure to recoup their investment and achieve ROI.

Can you provide some context regarding the National Electrification Strategy and Implementation Plan?

Before starting the implementation of the Distributed Energy Solutions (DES), we developed and presented the National Electrification Strategy and Implementation Plan to the National Economic Council. This plan involved mapping the entire country, identifying over 80 million Nigerians who lack electricity based on World Bank reports.

We have completed granular mapping that allows us to zoom in from states and local governments down to the individual community and even the roof of a household. This mapping includes both cosmopolitan cities like Lagos, with over 2.5 million houses, and remote communities with as few as five houses. This plan is enabling us to follow a structured approach, guided by verified and verifiable energy access data, to deploying clean energy infrastructure at scale.

What specific information does this mapping provide about these communities?

Beyond just counting households, we understand the nuances of electricity in each community, such as the supply ratio and whether they are fully electrified, underserved, or unserved. However, we have identified the least-cost method of providing electricity to each of the 153,000 communities we mapped. This allows us to choose the most economically viable solution, whether that’s extending the grid, or deploying isolated, interconnected, or mesh mini-grids, or even solar home systems.

Why has the agency prioritised solar energy for these projects?

We use solar because it’s cheap, as equipment costs have been significantly reduced, and it’s fast and easy to deploy. While thermal or hydro projects can take years, a solar project can be completed in three to six months. I must also note that due to the hot climate in most part of Nigeria, solar energy projects sustainably generate energy to power lives.

How do your mini-grid solutions work in practice, and what have you learned from previous grid projects?

For isolated communities, we deploy a solar generation plant directly within the community, providing independent electricity. We’ve learned from the mistakes of the main grid, so every mini-grid we deploy includes a distribution network, 100% metering, and a SCADA system that allows performance to be monitored via a phone.

We do not compromise on sustainability of these renewable energy infrastructure, so we ensure standard O&M while equally strengthening community ownership through the REA’s sustainability mechanism; the Rural Electricity Users Cooperative Society (REUCS). Productive usage and optimization of these facilities by the beneficiaries is equally pivotal. This is why we have sustained efforts in stimulating productive use activities, through anchor loads, in communities where we have deployed mini-grids, enabling beneficiaries to leverage the energy source to improve their lives and businesses, beyond keeping the lights on

Can you explain how interconnected mini-grids work, especially in collaboration with distribution companies (DISCOs)?

In peri-urban communities where there are existing distribution networks but unreliable power, we bring in our generation plant to close the energy gap by strategically interconnecting the traditional grid system with a renewable energy power plant. We work with Distribution Companies (DISCOs) through service-level agreements, where we provide solar power during the day and the DISCOs are expected to provide power at night. If the DISCO fails to provide power, our battery storage system kicks in. We are also currently deploying 50 interconnected mini-grids that will inject 280 megawatts of reliable supply into the grid.

What about very sparsely populated rural areas or those very close to the existing grid?

In the most remote areas, we provide stand-alone systems. For mildly sparsely populated areas, we use a mesh grid, where a stand-alone system in one house has a higher capacity and powers other houses through a DC network. For communities within three kilometers of the grid, we simply extend the grid.

For example, in Imo State, we are supporting grid extension and have even deployed an 8.9MW solar generation project atthe Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), which provides 100% solar power to the entire university and has 4 megawatts of excess capacity.

What are the future plans for integrating these mini-grids with the national grid?

Once the regulator perfects net billing and net metering, we will be able to supply excess power from our generation plants to the national grid. Our goal is to complete our target of 250 interconnected mini-grids, a feat we already kick-started, which could provide up to one gigawatt of generation and battery storage capacity to serve as a stabilizing force for the main grid. So, our plan is to continue to strengthen energy independence and sustainability.

What is the REA doing to support the health, education, and agricultural sectors?

These are key drivers of the economy, and our interventions are already evident across these sectors. We have completed hybrid mini-grid infrastructure in 15 universities, including a 12MW project at the University of Maiduguri and a 3MW project in Abuja. In total, we have deployed over 100MW of clean energy in the education sector.

We are now working towards scaling these numbers as we are starting work on constructing renewable energy power plants in another set of eight universitiesthrough the phase IV of the Energizing Education Programme (EEP).

We have also identified production and processing clusters and are deploying infrastructure specifically to help enhance agricultural processing in last-mile communities, complementing the work we already started through our Energizing Agriculture Programme(EAP). We have also completed the deployment of 100 containerized mini-grids in health institutions across the country and are continuing to do more. These facilities have greatly improved healthcare delivery services across the 100 healthcare facilities.