Ajay Banga, president of the lender, stated on Saturday that the World Bank plans to work with the government and the private sector to assist finance the building of 1,000 micro solar power grids in Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy.
With a population of more than 200 million, Nigeria has an installed power generation capacity of 12,500 megawatts (MW), but it only produces a small portion of that, forcing millions of homes and businesses to rely on gasoline and diesel generators.
The normal size of mini-grids, which are composed of small-scale electricity generating units, ranges from a few kilowatts to up to 10 MW, or enough energy to power about 200 dwellings.
In order to provide energy to villages without it, approximately 150 small grids have been made, with some of the money coming from the World Bank, according to Banga, who was speaking to media during a visit to a minor grid site outside of the capital Abuja.
“We are adding another 300, but with the government, our goal is to reach 1,000. Without providing a time frame, Banga stated, “We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that are being invested.
“At this point, the World Bank is not the only party contributing funds. We are using a portion of the funds as a subsidy.
According to World Bank data, 568 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still do not have access to electricity. Africa is home to around 80% of the world’s population without access to electricity.
