TAYO ELEGBEDE
Mini grids offer the best opportunity for African’s 600 million unenergised population to be powered, a new report has revealed.
The new report titled Africa Minigrid Benchmarking Report said up to 600 million unenergised Africans can be reduced with investments in, and regulatory supports for mini grids.
New data, according to the report by the Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA), confirms that distributed mini grids are the most reliable and affordable option for African governments seeking effective rural electrification and improved livelihoods.
The report said, “Parts of the findings are that mini-grids outperformed utilities in affordability, with average installed costs of $733 per connection for mini-grids against utilities lowest cost of $1,500 per connection.
“Installed costs for mini grids have dropped more than 60 per cent since 2015, and that can translate to governments saving money in that direction.”
It, therefore, recommended that countries fully incorporate service quality as a metric in national electrification planning and leverage mini grids to ensure reliable and quality electricity supply to rural communities.
The report, however, stated that lengthy and unpredictable approvals for mini grid projects in countries which participated in the survey hinder their growth.
The participating countries are Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.
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