In a decisive move to accelerate energy access while marking a major milestone for Nigeria’s energy sector, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has held the first grant signing ceremony under the World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) Project since its official launch in 2024.
Tribune Online reports that the signing, which involved eight Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs), forms a crucial step in Nigeria’s commitment to electrifying unserved and underserved communities, driving economic growth, and improving the quality of life for millions.
The DARES Project is structured to catalyse the off-grid energy market through targeted grant support for mini-grid and standalone solar projects. A key initiative under the Nigeria Electrification Programme (NEP), DARES is designed to facilitate the deployment of renewable energy solutions across Nigeria.
These solutions are vital for providing reliable and affordable electricity to communities that are currently off-grid, thereby unlocking their potential for social and economic advancement. The Nigeria DARES Project aims to impact the lives of 17.5 million Nigerians.
Under the Performance-Based Grant (PBG) sub-component for isolated mini-grids, Privida Power Limited secured a grant to deploy 2.47 megawatts (MW) of solar mini-grids across eleven communities in Kogi State, providing over 11,027 new connections.
In Kogi State, Privida Power’s projects will serve communities including Abocho Ojogba, Emewe Efopa, Icheu, Ochi Ofago, Offa, Ogene Ago, Ojamapunu, Oji Ofa, Ojo Agefu, Okura Ofate, and Onyakoji, with plant capacities tailored to local needs ranging from 61kW to 704kW per community.
In addition, eight companies under the Standalone Solar Systems (SAS) component, including Baobab Plus, Salpha Energy, Asolar, NTA-StarTimes, A4&T, Sunking Greenlight Planet, Bboxx, and D.Light, signed agreements to roll out tier 1 and 2 plug-and-play solutions to households and MSMEs to increase energy access in rural Nigeria.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, the Managing Director/CEO of REA, Abba Aliyu, highlighted the significance of the partnership, stating that the aim of the project is to create access and enhance the reliability of the Agency’s interventions in different areas.
According to Aliyu, the issue of 18 million Nigerians without access to electricity would soon be a thing of the past with the intervention of DARES and other projects being implemented by the REA.
“Today’s signing is not just a contract; it is a commitment to communities long underserved by conventional infrastructure. Through DARES, we are enabling private-sector leadership in bringing life-changing energy solutions to the heart of Nigeria. This is what distributed renewable energy should represent: local empowerment, economic opportunity, and human dignity.
“This is a big milestone. The project has started, and when we began, we commissioned the implementation of 42 interconnected mini-grids. Today, we’re signing the first batch of grant agreements. These projects aim to electrify 17.5 million Nigerians, and we intend to deploy 1,350 mini-grids. We also segregated the implementation of the projects into two different components. The first component is for the deployment of the mini-grid, whether isolated or interconnected. The second component is the deployment of solar home systems.
“The aim of this project is to create access and enhance the reliability of our interventions in different areas. The interconnected mini-grids we are deploying, of which we aim to deploy 125, are designed to enhance the reliability of electricity for customers on Bands D and E. Isolated mini-grids will create access for communities currently without electricity in Nigeria.
“Like I said, today marks a significant day. We are signing this grant agreement with one of our key developers, Privida, and also eight of our solar home system companies. A total of 82 companies, both national and international, applied for this grant agreement under this project. Nine companies out of the 82 have submitted their sites. The total sites submitted are 198, which will provide an estimated 340,000 connections and a total of 47 megawatts (MW) of additional clean, reliable electricity to the country’s total capacity.
“The 11th site we are signing today is Privida, one of the renewable energy service companies. Privida is committed to adding a total of 2.5MW of reliable, clean electricity, which will provide over 11,000 additional connections. For the solar home system, a total of 36 companies applied for this grant agreement, of which eight qualified for this signing. This will enable the deployment of 1.6 million solar home systems, which is significantly more than the total deployed under the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP). This signifies the scaling-up efforts under DARES to address the electricity access challenge in the country.
“The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through the Renewed Hope Agenda, is tackling the challenge of electricity access in the country head-on. We are committed to addressing this challenge. The issue of 18 million Nigerians without access to electricity will soon come to an end through the intervention of DARES and other projects being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency.
“We will soon reach a stage where Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs) not only address the electricity access challenge in this country but also export their technical ability and capacity to other West African countries, addressing the issue of access across the continent under the Mission 300 initiative being implemented by the World Bank and the African Development Bank,” the REA boss told Tribune Online.
Head of the Nigeria Electrification Programme (NEP), Olufemi Akinyelure, while emphasising the broader impact of the initiative, said, “Every connection made under DARES is more than a number; it is a doorway to education, healthcare, commerce, and inclusion. The 11,027 new connections we are announcing today represent lives transformed, futures energised, and a Nigeria that leaves no one behind. Partnerships like these are the blueprint for achieving our national energy access goals.”
The Nigeria DARES Project is a $750 million initiative funded by the World Bank and is designed to accelerate access to reliable, decentralised energy solutions for unserved and underserved communities across Nigeria.
The project aims to empower state governments, enable private sector participation, and scale solar technologies to reach over 17.5 million Nigerians, supporting the World Bank’s Mission 300 agenda and Nigeria’s broader energy transition goals.
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