President, Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), Mr Ayo Ademilua, says no fewer than $80 million is available for energy projects in the country for it members through investors.
Ademilua said this during the Renewable Energy Investment MaMatchmakin event on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, in Lagos.
The theme for the Renewable Energy Investment Matchmaking is “Energising Partnerships: Connecting Investors To Transformative Renewable Energy Projects”.
The event was sponsored by AllOn in partnership with REAN as an investment matchmaking event.
According to him, REAN members have promising projects that can effectively address the energy challenges in Nigeria using the abundant renewable energy resources available in the country.
He, however, said these developers require funding to bring these projects to fruition.
To bridge this gap, he said that the event served as a hub for connecting developers with multiple investors who were interested in investing in the clean energy sector.
In addition to investor involvement, Ademilua highlighted the support received from various commercial banks such as First Bank, Sterling Bank, and Stanbic Bank.
Others, he noted, were multilateral investors and stakeholders who have shown keen interest in investing in the renewable energy sector.
“So, aggregately, we have been able to pool about $80 to $100 million that is available for energy projects in Nigeria to members of REAN through all these investors.
“For instance, AllOn has got $25 million for investment in energy projects with a single obligor of $2.5 million, Stanbic Bank is onboard with N30 billion with a single obligor of N1 billion, among others.
“So, I will advise members and developers to take advantage of this opportunity to solve the problem of power in our country,” he said.
The president noted that one of the major setbacks with accessing funds from investors was the lack of knowledge to properly interpret and respond to financial documentation from financiers.
“Our members lack such financial knowledge, and this has mostly stopped them from accessing available funds in the sector,” he said.
Ademilua said that a solution had been provided to this bottleneck through partnership with AllOn which would be providing an incubation hub (AllOn Hub) which would give access to 30 members of REAN.
“This hub will enable members to develop their corporate structure, help them with their corporate governances, and provide a solution to help them to cross the bridges hindering access to funds.
“The hub will help them to be able to access the funds that the investors on the table are bringing on board.
“Our desire and objective is to see our developers close-out on their projects and complete the projects,” he said.
The president lauded the Federal Government’s initiative through the Electricity Act 2023 to improve Power in Nigeria.
He said that the act would decentralise and allow parties and developers to be able to generate electricity in a decentralised manner across the country to create more energy access.
“In REAN, we are all about promoting clean energy and generation of energy in Nigeria through our works,” he said.
Ademilua said that the Electricity Act was an exciting opportunity to Nigeria and developers across Sub-Saharan Africa and all over the world who could tap into it.
“The act is basically trying to say that we can fast-track energy access to different parts of the country both on-grid and off-grid.
“We have been plagued over time with some of the issues we have with the transmission grid because of issues along the line but with a decentralised generation.
“You can just set up the power plant in your state and run distribution within your state without having to travel thousands of miles which helps a lot.
“Imagine if all the states in the country goes into this, it will improve Power tremendously,” he said.
The president also said that the act was a speed in the wheel of the Nigerian Energy Transition plan which tries to achieve net zero by 2060.
“So, I believe that all these policies, frameworks and the act is working together towards a better Nigeria to light up the space,” Ademilua said.
By Yunus Yusuf
