Federal Government has announced that it will begin implementing the $750m World Bank-funded rural electricity project in November.
Gatekeepers News reports that FG said the project will provide over 17.5m Nigerians with new or improved access to electricity through distributed renewable energy solutions.
Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu made the announcement during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise daily programme on Thursday.
Before this, World Bank had in December 2023 announced the approval of Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up project, being financed by $750m International Development Association credit and would leverage over $1bn of private capital and significant parallel financing from development partners.
The financing from development partners includes $100m from Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and $200m from Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Other development partners collaborating on the programme include the United States Agency for International Development, German Development Agency, SEforAll, and African Development Bank.
However, the REA MD noted that the project would begin implementation next month without making known the reasons for the delay.
According to him; three million anticipated beneficiaries would be connected through the isolated mini-grid, 1.5 million Nigerians through the inter-connected mini-grip, and 12 million would be electrified using a merged grid and solar stand-alone system.
Aliyu said, “There is a new project that we are starting next month called the Distributed Renewable Energy Scale-up project which is a $750 million financed by the World Bank.”
“The target of that project is to electrify 17.5 million Nigerians, and I must say that this is one of the most ambitious projects in the world based on my understanding from India that has moved many unelectrified people to have access to electricity.”
“Three million of them through the isolated mini-grid, 1.5 million Nigerians through the interconnected mini grip, 12 million would be electrified using a merged grid and solar stand-alone system.”
He noted that the project is estimated to last for five years and was built on successes recorded from similar projects in the past which cost $550 million and were funded by World Bank and African Development Bank.
