Nigeria to establish solar PV projects with $1.5 billion loan FG secured in August 2022

The Federal Government of Nigeria and US-based renewable energy company Sun Africa, have signed an agreement for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of 5,000 MW of solar generation and 2,500 MW/h of battery energy storage power plants.

The power plants will be situated across the country’s six geopolitical zones and will help provide clean and affordable electricity to over 30 million people.  

A statement released by the Federal Government through its official Twitter account noted that the agreement was signed during the US-Africa Business Forum held recently.  

Cost: The Federal Government said the project will be funded with a $10 billion investment from the United States government. 

Part of the funds is a $1.5 billion loan Nigeria obtained from the American export credit agency Exim Bank. Nairametrics gathered that the loan was mobilized by Sun Africa.

 More on the $1.5 billion loan: In August 2022, it was announced that the Federal Government had secured a $1.5 billion loan from the US-Exim Bank to boost solar power infrastructure in 10 different locations in the country. 

For the record: A 2021 solar report on Nigeria, compiled by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, revealed that Nigeria is one of the fastest-growing markets for solar energy.  

• Nigeria has a fairly distributed solar radiation average of 19.8 maximum months of rainfall-modified solar radiation (MJm2/day) 
• The report states that the country’s off-grid market for mini-grids and solar home systems is estimated to yield $10 billion annually in revenue and savings of $6 billion for Nigerian homes and businesses.  
• The report also highlights the fact that sales of off-grid solar systems (50 – 100W output) increased by more than double in value from $23 million in 2018 to $63 million in 2019. Adding related products, the total import value is closer to $150 million.