FG begins N140bn solar installation in 5 million homes next week

Sunday Telegraph gathered that the programme will include the assembly and manufacturing of components of off-grid solutions to facilitate growth of the local manufacturing industry, while use of local content will be incentivized, the source added.

Confirming the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, said the work plan for the implementation of the N140 billion Solar Home Systems, a component of the ESP, indicate that the first set of installations will be done nationwide in December 2020.

It was learnt that by its design, the programme will cover up to 5 million households, serving about 25 million individual Nigerians who live mostly in rural communities and not currently connected to the national grid.

Based on the plan of the Economic Sustainability Committee set up earlier in the year by the President who asked the Vice President to chair, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will make available funds to the private companies in the solar power sub sector involved in the manufacture, assembling, installation, servicing of the solar systems, at rates ranging between 5 to 10 percent, way below the current commercial lending rates in the country.

Akande added that the objective of providing cheap credit for companies involved in the programme is to significantly reduce the cost of acquiring the system by end users who are Nigerians most of whom are not being served by the national grid.

The reduction in the lending rate will be a big incentive for the private sector under the ESP while also making power and energy more affordable for the 25m Nigerians when compared to consumers of electric power.