Engie Energy Access, the subsidiary of the French energy company, Engie, which specializes in decentralized solutions for access to electricity, has successfully completed its first project in West Africa, an off-grid solar system that has just gone into operation in Niger State.
The project which was commissioned recently, is a mini-grid equipped with solar photovoltaic panels capable of delivering 90kW of power to Gbangba community of Niger state.
The small-scale plant is connected to a power grid supplying 300 customers in the community of Gbangba, in addition to households, the new facility provides electricity to micro and small enterprises (MEPs).
“This mini-grid will promote the socio-economic development and prosperity of the Gbangba community, its residents and neighbours. It will serve grocery stores, bakeries and provide solutions for cell phone charging. It will boost farmers’ yields and food production by powering irrigation pumps, grain mills, wood and metal workshops, telecommunication towers and other processing plants,” explained Bankole Cardoso, the managing director of Engie Energy Access Nigeria, at the mini-grid inauguration ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by several personalities, including the French ambassador, Emmanuelle Blatmann, and Mamman Musa, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure.
This presence testifies to the support of local authorities to the Engie project. The Gbangba solar mini-grid is coming on stream as Nigeria implements one of the largest electrification projects in its history, financed by the World Bank.
The objective of the Electrification Project is to increase access to electricity services for households, public educational institutions, and underserved (MSMEs) Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
Infact, as part of the Nigeria Electricity Project (NEP), Engie Energy Access has signed a performance-based grant agreement with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to deploy its decentralized electricity access solutions in rural Nigeria.
The REA grant also covers the recently commissioned mini-grid in Gbangba and Engie plans to install 100 solar mini-grids across Nigeria in the near future.
Engie Energy Access, the subsidiary of French energy giant is expanding its activities in Africa, as the subsidiary of the Engie Group has signed an agreement with various African ministries of energy for the electrification of rural areas not served by the national electricity grid.
One of the obstacles to accelerating electrification via solar energy in Africa is the lack of financing. And Engie Energy Access wants to solve this equation by relying on participatory financing.
The company has joined forces with the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Energy Web (based in Zug, Switzerland) to launch a participatory financing platform which may hopefully influence greatly, Africa’s transition to clean renewable energy in the near future.
