Rockefeller, Bezos Set Sights on Nigeria’s Energy Market to Tackle Power Outages

Big names like the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund are gearing up to pour serious money into Nigeria’s energy sector, hoping to put an end to the nation’s long-running power woes.

Bloomberg reports that the two heavyweights, through the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) — a partnership that also includes the Ikea Foundation — are piloting a project aimed at solving Nigeria’s electricity shortages with solar mini-grids.

The first of these interconnected mini-grids kicked off in December 2021, showing that solar power can help fill the gaps left by the unreliable national grid. With these decentralized energy systems, both businesses and homes can stay powered all day, no matter how shaky the national supply gets.

The Alliance isn’t stopping there. They’re working on two more mini-grids and have secured funding for a fourth, with plans to scale up across the country. The goal? Give millions of Nigerians a shot at reliable power and ease the burden of constant outages.

“We need hundreds or thousands of these kinds of projects across Nigeria to end energy poverty,” said Muhammad Wakil, the country delivery lead for GEAPP, during an interview with Bloomberg at a project site in Ogun State. “We have shown it’s a viable business model.”

Nigeria’s aging national grid has crumbled three times in just one week, underscoring the deep-rooted issues that have left a country of 200 million people in the dark. Much of the grid’s instability boils down to overreliance on a handful of power plants—just nine plants out of 22 are responsible for 80% of the energy supply. Generation companies (GenCos), meanwhile, demand payment before feeding more power into the system, as reported by BusinessDay.

“You have those kind of under-served communities that do require reliable power to power their homes and their businesses,” said Fauzia Okediji, a utility innovation manager at GEAPP, speaking to Bloomberg TV’s Wall Street Week.

Through its Demand Aggregation for Renewable Technology (DART) program, GEAPP pulls together the needs of multiple developers to secure better deals on solar equipment. The DART program also includes a $25 million financing facility, letting developers buy equipment in dollars and repay the loans in Nigerian naira after the projects start generating revenue.

Grants, loans, and technical assistance from GEAPP have already set mini-grid developers in motion. Thanks to a government policy introduced last year, these mini-grids can now operate alongside the national grid without interference.

The World Bank has taken notice, pledging $130 million to support similar facilities, according to Wakil.

In Ogun State, one of these mini-grids—a one-megawatt solar project built by Nigerian company Darway Coast—will soon light up the community. By the end of the year, locals will enjoy round-the-clock electricity instead of the patchy eight hours currently provided by Ikeja Electric Plc…[CONTINUE READING HERE]>>