The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with five renewable energy-related organisations in its bid to ensure that the target of building at least 1,300 mini-grids in the coming years become a reality.
The companies operating in the renewables space with which the agency signed the deals were: Eauxwell Nigeria Limited, Skipper Nigeria Limited, Privida Energy, Havenhill Synergy Limited and Mercy Corps.
Eauxwell will collaborate on the delivery of up to 250mw of Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) projects, with the purpose of electrifying peri-urban and rural communities, including markets, businesses, households, public institutions, health clinics and schools.
Also, the Skipper’s deal involved the supply, installation & commissioning of off grid, on grid & hybrid solar solutions up to 250mw, while Privida is expected to deliver about 200mw of DRE projects in both weak grid and off-grid areas. In addition, Havenhill Synergy Limited, inked a deal for 250mw of projects.On its part, Mercy Corps, a global Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), will provide capacity building and strengthen the Rural Electricity Users Cooperative Society (REUCS) as well as provide technical assistance for the Africa Mini-grid Programme (AMP).
Speaking at the event, acting Managing Director of REA, Mr Abba Aliyu, said that the agency has set for itself a very ambitious target of ensuring that the renewables frontier is expanded in the country.
“We have a target of building 1,300 mini-grids across the country. And we are very deliberate in that we want to electrify 30 million Nigerians using isolated mini-grids, 1.5 million using interconnected mini-grids and about 15 million using Mesh grids and solar home systems. So this is a very tall order for us. And this is why we want to sign this MoUs,” he stated.
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