In Nigeria, the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and the most populated country on the continent, access to electricity continues to pose a major challenge for companies and households. Rensource develops, builds and operates hybrid solar minigrids that provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to Nigerian SMEs. One of Rensource’s flagship projects is Sabon Gari Market minigrid project in Kano which will provide power to over 11,000 shops. Rensource is currently developing further minigrid projects in twelve markets across six Nigerian States and for private SME clusters. The company, which was set up in 2016, actively participates in Nigeria’s energy transition. By investing in Rensource, Proparco and the EU (via ARE-Scale-Up) contribute to facilitating energy access in the context of a significant and growing energy gap in Nigeria and support the development of innovative solar energy solutions.
Rensource aims to develop, build and operate over 100 minigrids with a combined power capacity exceeding 35MW over the next five years and to provide clean and affordable electricity to 250,000 SMEs. This will lead to significant job creation and save 30,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
1st project under ARE Scale-Up, a facility dedicated to the development of off-grid solutions in Africa
With support from the European Union, PROPARCO and Agence Française de Développement have set up the Africa Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility (ARE Scale-Up), which aims at boosting investments in the field of off-grid renewable energy in Africa. Rensource is the first project supported by PROPARCO and the EU via the ARE Scale-Up facility.
“By developing innovative economic models based on renewable energies, SMEs such as Rensource will be playing a key role in the energy sector over the coming years”, explains Jean GUYONNET-DUPERAT, PROPARCO’s regional director in Nigeria. “Our investment is fully aligned with PROPARCO’s mandate which is to support green and inclusive growth and is 100% in line with the Paris Agreements. The project is also a great fit with French initiative Choose Africa, which aims at supporting African entrepreneurship”.
*1) Under the Energising Economies Initiative (EEI), an initiative from the Federal Government of Nigeria and managed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)