- AfDB addresses financial issues for renewable energy
- Anita Otubu, NEP Chief Project Manager, says the government plans to offer renewable energy to over 705,000.
- AfDB introduces the Nigerian infrastructure network to offer funds in local currency
The African Development Bank (AFDB) addresses one of the continent’s most significant financial issues for renewables by providing Nigerian clean energy developers with up to 15 years of naira-denominated loans.
The second Solar Power in Africa webinar, hosted by analyst REGlobal, heard from Gabriel de Lastours of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that few African commercial lenders are willing to grant the 25-year credit terms necessary for clean energy developers.
The African Development Bank (AFDB) has introduced the Nigerian infrastructure network to offer funds in local currency; according to Wale Shonibare, director of energy financial solutions, policy, and regulation, the product helps attract different investors on the structure of the local solar value chain.
While in Nigeria, Anita Otubu, the chief of the program management unit for the government’s Nigeria Electrification Project, detailed Abuja’s efforts to supply off-grid renewable energy, funded by a $350 million World Bank loan a $200 million AFDB credit.
According to Otubu, the government plans to offer renewable energy to 705,000 families, 90,000 small and medium businesses, 400 health clinics, 100 Covid-19 treatment and isolation units, 15 federal colleges, and two teaching hospitals. The off-grid initiative plans to offer 24,500 appliances to fulfil mini-grid load needs. According to Otubu, the project will give a credit facility worth NGN140 billion ($336 million) to fund 5 million new solar connections, benefiting 25 million individuals.