Nigeria and Sustainable Energy For All organization (SEforALL), a United Nations-backed entity, have set a $500 million target for a fund to finance the roll out of so-called distributed renewable energy, such as solar home systems and mini-grids.
A news report from Bloomberg on Monday indicated that the fund, which is backed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and supported with Nigerian pension funds’ investments, would be managed by Africa50, an infrastructure investor arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
SEforALL’s Chief Executive Officer, Damilola Ogunbiyi, during an interview with Bloomberg’s correspondent on the sidelines of a global gathering of development finance institutions in Cape Town, South Africa, said that the aim was to put together a “fund that would be accessible and will be in local currency for local developers.”
According to her, the fund is linked to the Mission 300 programme led by the World Bank and the AfDB to provide electricity to 300 million people in Africa by 2030 and is designed to provide funds to countries that meet certain conditions of the disbursement, including reforming power utilities and adapting regulations to encourage private investment.
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The CEO of Africa50, Alain Ebobisse, was quoted to have hinted during an interview in January this year that the fund was being planned, but the total amount was yet to be decided upon by the promoters.
Meanwhile, Africa50 is setting up a $200 million fund – the Africa Solar Facility – to invest in distributed renewable energy projects across the continent and sponsored by the International Solar Alliance.
Globally today, mini-grids and solar home systems are becoming dependable sources of electricity access to individuals and small businesses, particularly in rural areas that are not linked to national grids.
Current data showed that more than 80% of world population still lacked access to electricity, out of of whom 570 million people live in sub-Saharan Africa, and 86 million of them are in Nigeria.
