Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
All On, a Shell-funded impact investment Company, through its Demand Aggregation for Renewable Technologies (DART) program, has announced its commitment to support 25 mini-grid projects in Nigeria with $11 million, which is equivalent to N5 billion.
This was disclosed at an inaugural DART workshop with off-grid developers, commercial banks, domestic investors, and other critical stakeholders in order to discuss strategies to unlock local currency commercial funding for the off-grid renewable energy sector in Nigeria.
The CEO of All On, Caroline Eboumbou, during her remarks at the workshop, highlighted the remarkable successes that have been achieved through the DART program since its launch in 2021. She stated that the program has committed a total of N5 billion in order to support 25 mini-grid projects across Nigeria, with over 2,700 solar energy systems to be funded, and 12 successful applications so far.
According to her, efforts have been made in collaboration with its partner, Global Energy for People and Planet (GEAPP), in order to increase the funding of the facility by $15 million, which is equivalent to N6.9 billion. These efforts aim at addressing the local financing blockages that are experienced by developers and also ensure that affordable, high-quality solar products reach the communities that are most in need of this intervention within the country.
In her own words, “while celebrating these achievements, we also acknowledge that challenges have arisen along the way. In collaboration with our partners at GEAPP, we are actively working to address these challenges. We have made significant progress in simplifying the application process and in reducing the timelines from application to disbursement.
“Additionally, we have expanded the eligibility scope to include Solar Energy Systems, Standalone Systems for Productive Use (SSPU), and Commercial and Industrial (C&I) developers.”
