Nigeria

The microgrid utility has raised enough capital from Shell New Energies to deploy systems across sub-Saharan Africa.

A World Bank presentation in London drew an encouraging picture for the Nigerian market by explaining why the mini grid segment will take off in the next 12 months.

The African Development Bank last year disclosed a plan to install 10 GW of solar in the deserts of the Sahel. A recent summit held in Burkina Faso may have brought the ambitious project a step closer.

The solar home system company, which enables customers to pay their solar electricity bill through an app on their mobile on a PAYG basis, has conducted a monumental funding round as it eyes expansion to become a fully-fledged pay-as-you-go utility.

In July 2016 Nigeria signed power purchase agreements with 14 utility scale PV projects with a total generation capacity of 1,075 MW. None of the projects has reached financial close and pv magazine has learned the government wants to reduce the agreed tariffs.

pv magazine caught up with the chief exec of the pay-as-you-go solar home system provider to get his thoughts on the claim mini and microgrid business models don’t stack up and the suggestion government-driven utility scale solar should light the way in the sub-Saharan marketplace.

Four Nigerian universities are in the final stages of abandoning the country’s main grid to be fully powered by mini-grids. Nigeria aims to use more mini-grid technology to power its people by tapping a $550 million World Bank loan.

The Japanese conglomerate is leading a $26 million equity investment in Azuri Technologies, which provides pay-as-you-go solar home solutions to off-grid communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

A new report analyzing 10 solar markets throughout Africa claims that the continent’s PV market could expand from about 5 GW at present to up to 30 GW by the end of the next decade.