REA targets local solar manufacturing as 85 million lack reliable electricity

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is moving to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported solar equipment through a new manufacturing partnership as more than 85 million Nigerians, representing about 40% of the population, still lack reliable access to grid electricity.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the REA, Abba Aliyu, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the signing of a Joint Development Agreement between the agency and Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited.

The agreement will facilitate the establishment of a solar panel and battery assembly and manufacturing facility in Nigeria, as the Federal Government seeks to expand electricity access, create jobs and retain more foreign exchange within the country.

What the REA is saying

Aliyu described the agreement as a major milestone in Nigeria’s renewable energy drive, saying it marked the first time a Tier-1 Chinese renewable energy company had committed to establishing manufacturing and assembly operations in Nigeria.

• “Over 85 million Nigerians, close to 40 per cent of our population, still lack reliable access to grid electricity. REA exists to close that gap.”
• “Every electrified community across Nigeria today tells the same quiet story. The panel on the rooftop was engineered abroad. The battery beneath it was assembled abroad. The inverter that ties it together was also manufactured outside the country.”
• “Nigeria supplied the roof, the need and the market, while someone else supplied the technology and equipment.”
• “Every dollar we spend importing solar modules is a dollar that could have been paid to Nigerian technicians or invested in Nigerian factories. We have been financing someone else’s industrial growth with our own electrification budget.”

Aliyu said the continued importation of renewable energy equipment had deprived Nigeria of jobs, technical capacity and foreign exchange that could have been retained locally.

Under the agreement, the REA, through its renewable asset management subsidiary, will facilitate the annual offtake of up to 200 megawatts of solar photovoltaic modules and 200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems manufactured and assembled in Nigeria by Ecotech.

The agency said the arrangement is a non-exclusive framework designed to promote local manufacturing and does not override existing public procurement regulations.

He said local production would reduce import dependence, shorten delivery timelines for developers, create jobs, retain foreign exchange and strengthen Nigeria’s technical capacity.

The initiative, he added, aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s target of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030 through private sector-led industrialisation.

More Insights

Nigeria’s solar energy capacity has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2023 alone, solar panel imports were valued at over $200 million—equivalent to more than four million panels—much of which went into captive power generation.

• By the first quarter of 2025, according to NERC, the value of imported panels had reached approximately N125.29 billion.
• This surge has been driven by a mix of government initiatives and private sector investments, particularly in rural and off-grid areas where decentralized energy solutions are critical. In 2024, the country added 63.5 MW of solar power, pushing total installed capacity to 385.7 MW.
• Data from the REA indicates that the country needs at least 5 million off-grid solar systems to serve unpowered and underserved communities.

More recently, in mid-June, Nairametrics reported that the World Bank and AfDB announced that Mission 300 had connected more than 50 million people to electricity across 40 countries, nearly two years after the programme was launched.

What you should know

The REA has previously extended electricity access to millions of underserved Nigerians through initiatives including the Rural Electrification Fund, the Nigerian Electrification Project and the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Project.

• In November, AfDB approved a $500 million loan to the Federal Government of Nigeria to finance the second phase of the Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Programme.
• The bank also approved a $100 million loan to the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) to boost sustainable infrastructure development across Africa.