Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency is partnering with Husk Power Systems for interconnected minigrids and isolated minigrids, rooftop commercial and industrial (C&I) solar, productive use of energy (PUE) initiatives, appliance sales, and financing.
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) of Nigeria and Husk Power Systems have agreed on a strategic partnership to deploy up to 250 MW of decentralized renewable energy (DRE) projects in support of the government’s energy access, energy transition, and energy security targets. The two partners recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the initiative.
The partnership will focus on a range of rural and peri-urban DRE projects, including power generation and distribution (both inter-connected minigrids and isolated minigrids), rooftop C&I solar, PUE initiatives, appliance sales, and financing.
The projects will support the rollout of the $750 million Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, which is funded by the World Bank and administered by REA. DARES is expected to launch later this year.
Aside from building new clean energy infrastructure to electrify unserved and underserved communities, the agreement also outlines collaboration on innovative new models such as virtual power plants (VPPs) and value-added community services such as e-mobility, agricultural processing, cold storage, and clean cooking.
The REA and Husk Power Systems will also work together to enable the mass adoption of energy efficient appliances and PUE devices through sales, distribution, and credit financing.
Husk Power Systems has been present in Nigeria since 2020, and has successfully delivered reliable, clean electricity to households, micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and factories, as well as health clinics, schools, markets, and public institutions.
As part of its Africa Sunshot initiative, which was announced in 2023, Husk Power Systems targets to deploy 1,000 minigrids in Nigeria and another 1,500 in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The REA is a federal agency of Nigeria under the Ministry of Power, with the mandate to actualize the national ambition to achieve universal access.
The agency pursues this mission through a blend of public and mobilized funding from partners and the private sector to provide clean and sustainable energy access to Nigerians in underserved and unserved communities.