Nigerians Spend $14 Billion Annually Powering 14 Gigawatts Gas Generators – RMI Statistical Report

REA MD, Damilola Ogunbiyi

*As RMI, REA Launches Electricity Roadmap For Africa, May 1

By CLEMENT NWOJI, Abuja

Statistics provided by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) reveals that Nigerians spend $14 billion annually on off-grid power, in course of powering small 14 gigawatt gas generators nationwide.

RMI also decried the current situation in Nigeria with over 180 million population, huge potential for rural economic activities but its 85 million people do not have reliable access to electricity or are not connected to the grid.

These revelations are coming even as the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) have concluded plans for the release of three-year roadmap for Africa on how to achieve $0.20kWh from electric mini grid technology by 2020.

The roadmap to be released in May 1, 2018, will outline how much capital is required and a plan for transitioning funding from grants and high-risk concessional and government sources to venture capital and private equity.

The founder of the Virgin Group and an RMI donor, Sir Richard Branson, said “Nigeria has all the right drivers to become a leader in the minigrid market in Africa: great entrepreneurial tradition, a large self-employed population and market size. I’m looking forward to seeing how entrepreneurs in Nigeria leverage this opportunity over the next few years.”

Also, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi, said “The electricity market for off-grid energy in Nigeria is huge and profitable for developers. Installing 1,000 minigrids each year for the next 10 years would provide power to millions of Nigerians currently off-grid.”

“I am excited and optimistic about cracking the minigrid challenge in Nigeria. Nigeria is blessed with some of the region’s most amazing entrepreneurs. We urge venture capitalists and impact investors from around the world to get involved with us,” said Jules Kortenhorst, chief executive officer of Rocky Mountain Institute.

RMI co-hosted a workshop last week to chart the path to unlocking the minigrid market in Nigeria, which would provide energy access to millions and tap into a multibillion-dollar opportunity.

According to a joint statement from REA and RMI, more than 50 industry leaders and experts attended the interactive work session focused on delivering a profitable and scalable minigrid market business model.

The Attendees included CrossBoundary, Global Environment Facility, IHS Towers, McKinsey & Company, Nayo Technologies, PowerGen, Rensource Distributed Energy, Rubitec Solar, SBM Intelligence, Shell and many others.

At the workshop, market solutions centered on six key opportunity areas: grid-in-a-box hardware, better load management, effective customer engagement, efficient project development and operations and maintenance, affordable finance and supportive policy.

RMI’s Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) program could not carry out this work without the generosity of the Rockefeller Foundation and Virgin Unite. Schneider Electric sponsored the workshop.