The Stand-Alone Solar for Productive Use (SSPU) programme of the Universal Energy Facility (UEF) has announced that grants will be given to renewable energy companies who applied to have their projects funded.
UEF is a facility for results-based financing run by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).
The facility said in a statement on Wednesday that the chosen grantees would start construction on their proposed solar projects. The statement was signed by Anita Otubu, senior director, UEF.
The projects, according to Otubu, would cover the majority of Nigeria’s states and be finished in the following 12 months.
She said all the projects are designed to connect businesses and services to a clean, affordable and reliable electricity source.
“Together, they will connect approximately 3,500 businesses, markets, shopping malls, cold-storage facilities, clinics, schools, and other productive uses of energy, which use that support economic activity and community infrastructure,” the statement reads.
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“As stand-alone solar energy projects, they will alleviate the need for businesses and services to rely on expensive, polluting fossil fuel generators as their source of power.
“The UEF estimates that approximately 5,400 tons of CO2 equivalent per year will be saved once all of the proposed projects are implemented.”
Damilola Ogunbiyi, chief executive officer and special representative of the UN secretary-general for Sustainable Energy for All, was quoted as saying, “With this programme in Nigeria, the Universal Energy Facility will demonstrate the enabling power that sustainable energy can have on local economic development and climate action.
“Solar projects supported by the facility will give businesses clean and affordable electricity to help them scale up, create jobs, and replace polluting power sources.”
Last year, the federal government launched its energy transition plan showing how the country will achieve universal energy access by 2030 and net-zero emissions by mid-century, as well as the finance required to meet these goals.
Recently, the federal government disclosed that it has raised $3.6 billion out of its $10 million annual funding plan for energy transition.
The UEF said it is contributing to the plan’s finance targets for the power sector by providing grants that companies can leverage to attract additional finance for clean energy.
Commenting on the development, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was quoted as saying the projects supported by the Universal Energy Facility will help grow businesses and create jobs, making them key contributors to the energy transition plan.
Story adapted from The Cable
