In sub-Saharan Africa, the mini-grid market potentially represents $ 3.6 billion in revenue according to the ADB. In addition, this solution will allow populations to gain access to electrification faster and achieve universal access to energy more quickly.
The size of the mini-grid market in sub-Saharan Africa is now estimated at $ 3.6 billion, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Nigerian power grid rose to 5,377 megawatts (MW) peak power generation on Saturday night, a feat attained 18 months after the previous record.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) disclosed this on Monday. It said the enhanced record occurred at 9.30pm on Saturday. On February 7, 2019, the national power grid reached 5,375MW peak generation, with improved electricity to many places nationwide.
However, the latest records surpassed that of 2019 with 2.8MW, TCN said, adding that “it was successfully transmitted to distribution load centres nationwide.” TCN said a simulation done in December 2019 showed that transmission networks could evacuate over 8,100MW of electricity to the distribution networks.
The generation companies (GenCos) through the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) said they had over 13,000MW installed capacity and 7,600MW presently available capacity to generate power.
The institution believes that the emergence of this market was made possible by the improvement of the political and regulatory framework combined with technological innovations. So far, 1,890 mini-power stations have been installed.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Ethiopia have the greatest potential in terms of the mini-grid market, ” said Wale Shonibare, Director of Financial Solutions, Energy Policy and Regulation. at the AfDB. According to the official, minigrids represent one of the fastest ways for the continent to achieve universal access to energy by 2030 and meet new demands for access.
In this context, the AfDB has undertaken several initiatives, including market exploration and the establishment of financing solutions to help develop a sustainable market for minigrids in Africa.
These incentives are welcome due to the lack of adequate funding of the various regional power pools in large-scale production and transmission infrastructure.