– DARES project to deploy 1,350 mini-grids and 1.6 million solar home systems
– REA targets 47 MW of clean energy and 340,000 new connections
– Initiative aligns with Mission 300 and Nigeria’s universal electrification goals
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed grant agreements with nine renewable energy companies to provide electricity access to 17.5 million Nigerians. This marks the first phase of the World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) project.
The participating companies—Privida Power Limited, Baobab Plus, Salpha Energy, Asolar, NTA-StarTimes, A4&T Power Solutions, Sunking Greenlight Planet, Bboxx, and D.Light—will deploy 1,350 mini-grids and 1.6 million solar home systems across underserved communities.
The initiative aims to add 47 megawatts of clean energy to the national grid and create approximately 340,000 new connections. At the signing ceremony in Abuja, REA Managing Director Abba Aliyu emphasized that this effort is part of Nigeria’s commitment to achieving universal electricity access and contributes to the broader Mission 300, which seeks to deliver energy access to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
