The United Kingdom, through its Department for International Development, has approved N4.74bn (£16.7m) for the development of electricity from solar energy in Nigeria.
According to SolarNigeria, the agency in charge of the programme in Nigeria, the funds from the UK DFID will be used to scale the market for solar home lighting and power across the country through to 2020.
In a statement issued in Abuja, the agency said, “In 2016, a financing pilot will provide £0.5m in grants to mobilise the provision of commercial finance into the value chain for household scale solar light and power systems. A number of deposit money banks, micro-finance banks, and solar pay-as-you-go specialists will be invited to apply”.
The agency further stated that additional 49,000 homes across the country had acquired solar lighting and power systems within three months this year.
The programme, it said, was helping many households and small business entities to access modern, clean, lighting and power at lower cost than kerosene lanterns and small generators.
Market data indicates that about 130,000 solar units existed in the market last year. The addition of the current units raises the number by 40% to over 179,000 solar units installed across Nigerian households.
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