By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Sterling Bank Plc has unveiled a new digital product, Imperium Platform, to promote renewable energy solution for sustainable economic development in Nigeria.
The innovative product crystallises the vision of the bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Abubakar Sulaiman, on climate change adaptation towards achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDG).
Explaining the new product, the bank’s Group Head, Renewable Energy, Dele Faseemo, said the Imperium Platform seeks to provide clean and affordable energy solutions to interested customers.
He said the Imperium Platform provides different financing options to customers purchasing the solution either outright or paying for the installation and operation of the solution.
Faseemo noted that the digital product enables consumers and providers of renewable energy (solar power solutions) to overcome the basic electricity power challenges in the country.
The unveiling of Imperium Platform followed the release of the Nigerian electricity industry report titled, “Powering Nigeria: How Solar Energy Can Become a Sustainable Electricity Alternative.”
The report which was produced by Sterling Bank in partnership with Stears, a digital information company, identified the critical gaps in the electricity power supply in Nigeria.
Faseemo disclosed that Stears Data, the data collection, analytics and data access division of Stears, embarked on the study in partnership with Sterling Bank to solve the problem of inadequate access to alternate energy in Nigeria.
The report revealed that Nigeria has one of the lowest electrification rates in the world, despite the privatisation of the country’s power industry.
The comprehensive study shows that 43 per cent of Nigeria’s population has no access to grid electricity, an indication that 85 million Nigerians are not connected to the national transmission grid, and cannot use electricity power.
Faseemo who said the Imperium Platform would provide a wide range of purchase options to consumers noted that solar energy solutions are not one-size-fits-all products.
According to him Sterling Bank is employing several purchase models to provide alternative renewable energy solutions for its customers across the country.
He explained that the provision of a wide range of options ensures that customers with different needs and purchase abilities can access solar energy solutions as they like.
Feseemo who said the options include outright purchase, lease to own and power as a service added that outright purchase, as an example, ensures that energy consumers could purchase products directly from vendors via the Imperium Platform, a dedicated e-commerce platform hosted by Sterling Bank.
He said, using the lease to own, Imperium provides financing at competitive interest rates for consumers with good credit scores or clean credit checks who are keen to own the assets. He also explained that under the option of power as a service, Imperium offers fixed monthly energy-charge to consumers, but the underlying assets are owned by Imperium.
He said this option saves the customers a huge capital outlay and maintenance worries, while the monthly energy charge is based on the capacity deployed.
