The World Bank has approved USD750m in credit for clean energy projects in Nigeria to boost electricity supply in Africa’s most populous nation, as reported by Reuters on December 15. The International Development Association (IDA), a development finance institute affiliated with the World Bank, will fund the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) scheme. The DARES project aims to provide over 17.5 million Nigerians with new or improved access to electricity through distributed renewable energy solutions. The World Bank anticipates the DARES project to mobilize over USD1bn in private capital and substantial additional financing from development partners, expanding investments in clean energy solutions across Nigeria.

More than 85 million people lacked access to electricity in Nigeria as of 2021, with households and businesses reliant on expensive diesel and petrol generators. The DARES project aims to address the problem through the deployment of standalone solar and mini grids, which would replace over 280,000 polluting and costly petrol and diesel generator sets and provide reliable and clean electricity to up to 237,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Notably, the Nigeria DARES project marks the largest-ever single-distributed energy initiative by the World Bank globally. It builds on the achievements of the World Bank-financed Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP). So far, the NEP scheme has supported the establishment of 125 mini grids and the sale of over a million Solar Home Systems, providing electricity access to more than 5.5 million Nigerians.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/world-bank-provide-750-mln-clean-energy-projects-nigeria-2023-12-15/

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/12/15/nigeria-to-expand-access-to-clean-energy-for-17-5-million-people