Shell-funded impact investment company, All On, says it has completed the initial phase of nationwide solar installations at emergency health facilities related to the COVID-19 pandemic response.
“When we conceived this contribution to the national COVID-19 support initiative, our main objective was to ensure that our chosen investee companies delivered quality installations quickly and safely to help save lives,” said Dr. Wiebe Boer, All On CEO, in a statement on Monday, June 1, 2020.
The Nigerian off-grid energy impact investment company announced the COVID-19 Solar Relief Fund on March 31, 2020 to be installed via renewable energy companies Auxano, Arnergy, GVE and Lumos to provide solar power for emergency health facilities in support of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Within two months, all installations have reportedly been deployed and are in use.
“We are proud of the impact of this social investment,” said Afolabi Akinrogunde, All On Investment Manager. “Our investee companies’ efforts include 10 rooftop solar and storage installations spread across Lagos, Oyo, Kaduna, Rivers and Enugu States as well as 95 Solar Home Systems across 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory.”
According to All On, off-grid energy companies recognised early on, the critical role they could play towards the national COVID-19 response by providing solar power to ensure that testing facilities were not hampered by a lack of electricity.
Lumos Nigeria CEO, Adepeju Adebajo said, “Lumos was ready with trained staff and products on ground to install solar powered systems that allowed key workers to test and treat patients with the virus, ultimately saving lives.”
All On also recognised that, in addition to saving lives, companies needed support to ensure business continuity during the economic downturn. To that end, the company announced a postponement of all Q2 2020 interest payments on current interest-bearing investments, on April 15, 2020. The decision was taken in recognition of the continued economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and in line with its mandate to accelerate the growth of the off-grid energy sector in Nigeria.
All On disclosed that its main objective was to facilitate collaboration with various national and private sector initiatives to make a direct contribution to Nigeria’s COVID-19 response and essentially help curb the pandemic and save lives.
Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said, “We are grateful to All On for the support rendered to isolation and health care facilities via the provision of solar power, at a time when healthcare infrastructures are in critical need.”
All On was established by Shell to contribute to addressing Nigeria’s access to energy gap through impact investing and the creation of an enabling environment for players in the off-grid sector to thrive.
Through the COVID-19 Solar Relief (CSR) Fund, it is contributing to interventions nationwide by providing green power solutions to aid in the containment and treatment of the virus, while also creating awareness of solar power for the development of the Nigerian economy.
