…Ends free electricity era for universities, hospitals
Nigeria’s rural electrification drive is entering a new phase, and it has less to do with installing solar panels than with ensuring someone pays to keep them running.
The federal government on Wednesday unveiled a new state-backed company, the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), designed to collect revenue from and maintain solar-hybrid power plants that Nigeria has already built at public expense, a pivot from a decade-long focus on installing renewable capacity toward making that capacity commercially self-sustaining.
Since 2017, the Rural Electrification Agency has installed 82 megawatts of solar-hybrid generation across 22 federal universities and three teaching hospitals under the Energising Education Programme, a project funded jointly by Nigeria’s government, the World Bank and the African Development Bank at a cost of roughly 263 billion naira, according to Abba Aliyu, the agency’s managing director.
Another 150 megawatts is under construction or in the pipeline through a mix of federally financed programs, and Aliyu said 70 to 80 more public institutions could be electrified within three years.
