New Atlas to Guide Strategic Electricity Infrastructure Spending, Says Head of Renewable Energy Association

Dr Abba Aliyu, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, recently engaged with select journalists to discuss the agency's completion of a nationwide energy mapping exercise, which identified over 750,000 communities, and the crucial role of electricity in driving economic growth and supporting emerging technologies.

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The importance of reliable electricity to Nigeria's development, particularly in the era of Artificial Intelligence, cannot be overstated, as power stimulates economic development and growth, enhances agriculture, improves health services, and enhances the quality of education, with AI at its centre.

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AI-driven technologies, such as precision agriculture and manufacturing, rely heavily on electricity, and the agency is working to ensure that every Nigerian has access to electricity, with the current administration providing grants for production rather than consumption to catalyse private sector investment.

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The agency's approach involves providing capital grants to de-risk deployment costs, which reduces electricity tariffs, and has already shown promise in supporting agricultural clusters across Nigeria, particularly in reducing post-harvest losses through productive energy use.

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In Plateau State, for example, the agency deployed a 50-kilowatt mini-grid system in the Namu community, enabling a large rice processing plant to switch from diesel to clean energy, resulting in over 200 bags of rice being competitive in the market.

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The agency is now scaling up the project to nearly five megawatts, a 100-fold increase, which will power the remaining 37 factories and surrounding communities, demonstrating the potential of productive energy solutions to support economic growth.

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A comprehensive national plan, which includes the mapping of over 750,000 communities across the country, has been developed to guide the implementation of REA projects, providing reliable data on where to intervene, how to intervene, and which technology is most suitable for each location.

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This plan has made implementation much easier, and the agency has made significant progress in supporting agricultural clusters, with the revised mini-grid regulation enabling the deployment of larger electricity projects, including isolated mini-grids of up to five megawatts and interconnected mini-grids of up to 10 megawatts.

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The agency is also working with state governments under the Electricity Act, through the State-by-State Roundtable, which brings together state executive management teams, the private sector, and the REA to align activities and promote cooperation.

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The deployment model used by the agency ensures sustainability and promotes financial inclusion in rural communities, with every mini-grid deployed coming with 100 per cent metering and SCADA systems, resulting in a collection rate of up to 97 per cent.

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The agency's approach has catalysed the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, and by partnering with the private sector, has created an ecosystem of Renewable Energy Service Companies, which are trained to deploy renewable energy infrastructure.

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To promote local solar manufacturing in Nigeria, the agency has signed a joint development agreement to establish 3.7 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity across the country, with four facilities located in the Lagos/Sagamu axis, and two facilities in Lagos already commenced operations.

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The agency is also supporting local demand for products manufactured in Nigeria, with companies such as Levin Energies, a photovoltaic manufacturing company in Ikotun, Lagos, already supplying the Nigerian market and exporting to Accra, Ghana.