Nigeria Needs just N31.9Trillion to Power Some Rural Communities — REA Director

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Nigeria will need about $23 billion to close electricity gaps across 143,000 underserved and unserved communities, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Abba Aliyu, has revealed.

Aliyu disclosed this in Abuja during the switch-on ceremony of Phase 1 of the Greening of the UN House solar project, noting that a nationwide mapping exercise identified thousands of communities with little or no access to electricity.

According to him, the survey covered settlements ranging from densely populated areas with millions of households to remote communities with only a few homes. He said the $23 billion estimate represents the least-cost pathway to connect communities without electricity and strengthen supply in underserved areas as Nigeria pursues universal energy access and a cleaner power mix.

Meanwhile, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, described the solarisation of the UN House as both symbolic and strategic.

The project features a 400-kilowatt peak solar photovoltaic microgrid, expandable to 700 kilowatts, supported by 650 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion battery storage. The system is expected to cut electricity costs at the complex by about 40 per cent annually.

Before the installation, the UN House spent between N432 million and N540 million yearly on electricity. The solar system is projected to save N173 million to N216 million annually, reduce grid electricity consumption by nearly one million kilowatt-hours, and cut about 300 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.