Leading solar company, Sun King, has secured a naira-denominated loan worth $80 million to scale up electrification efforts in Nigeria.
The loan facility, jointly provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Stanbic IBTC Bank, is the largest local-currency energy access financing deal in West Africa to date, according to a statement released by Sun King on Thursday.
According to the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Krishna Swaroop, the money will help finance the provision of electricity to as many as 4 million households over the next four to five years, adding to the 2 million Sun King has already funded.
Driving local solutions for a local challenge
The company, which rebranded from Greenlight Planet, said the denomination of the loan in local currency is icing on the cake for the project.
“What’s really exciting about this is that it’s a local-currency facility. It eliminates foreign-exchange risk and allows us to offer more affordable financing to our customers,” said Sun King’s co-founder, Anish Thakkar.
Sun King’s solar kits, which include panels and rechargeable batteries, are paid for in daily instalments of about $0.21 (roughly N320), with most customers completing payments within a year. The equipment has a lifespan of up to 10 years.
Backed by global electrification goals
The loan aligns with the World Bank and African Development Bank’s broader Mission 300 initiative, which aims to connect 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.
- The mission anticipates tens of billions of dollars in public and private investment to transform Africa’s energy landscape.
- Earlier this year, the World Bank spotlighted the Mission 300 program at a conference in Tanzania.
- The program is part of a broader effort to make electrification in Africa faster, cheaper, and more scalable.
- Meanwhile, this is not Sun King’s first major financing win. In 2021, the company secured a $75 million deal in Kenya, also targeted at expanding off-grid access.
Nigeria in the spotlight
The World Bank has been ramping up its support for electrification in Nigeria, where about 90 million people are believed to have no access to electricity.
In December 2023, it facilitated a $750 million loan to boost off-grid and renewable energy solutions in the country.
That initiative is expected to attract over $1 billion in private investment and extend electricity access to 17.5 million people.
The World Bank also supports initiatives like the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project in Nigeria.
