Powering Nigeria’s Future: How to fix broken promise of mini-grids

In the small village of Egororebet, just outside Jos, a solar-powered mini-grid hums at dusk. But instead of glowing homes and bustling businesses, the panels cast shadows over empty wires. The batteries died years ago. Families still burn kerosene lamps. The community’s dream of electricity? A flicker, then darkness.

This scene repeats across Nigeria, where dozens of government and donor-funded mini-grids – decentralised energy systems meant to power rural communities – are operating far below capacity or lying abandoned. The issue isn’t just a lack of investment or sunshine. It’s a web of systemic failures: shoddy construction by contractors, neglected maintenance, and a lack of accountability that leaves communities stranded despite their willingness to pay for better service.

During visits to 40 minigrid sites, a pattern emerged. Contractors often cut corners – using second-hand solar panels, substandard wiring, or poor earthing that risks fires – doing just enough to scale the minimum standards. Systems were installed and commissioned without proper documentation, such as the commissioning test results, as-built single line diagrams and layout drawings, key equipment manuals, key maintenance spares, and operations and maintenance schedules. Panels went uncleaned for months, dust slashing energy output. Minor faults, like a tripped inverter or loose connection, became permanent failures because no one took responsibility.

As Nigeria races to electrify 25 million people by 2030, these stalled projects offer urgent lessons. Here’s how to turn them around – and ensure future mini-grids don’t suffer the same fate.

The Problem: Why Mini-grids Fade

Most mini-grids start with fanfare: solar panels rise, batteries are installed, and communities celebrate. But within years, systems falter.

Lead-acid batteries – cheap but fragile – die under Nigeria’s heat and irregular maintenance. Users, struggling to pay high tariffs, disconnect or bypass their meters. Others never plug in because of the limited capacity of the mini-grid deployed to the community. Many others are not connected for productive use because their equipment is still fossil fuel-powered, and cannot afford to retrofit to electrically powered alternative.

But the rot often starts earlier. Contractors, eager to win bids, sometimes use second-hand equipment or skip critical steps like proper earthing systems, adequately sized cables, and protective devices, leaving systems vulnerable to damage. Many installations lacked even basic O&M plans. No one was hired to clean panels or fix faults. “The contractors disappeared after commissioning,” laments a village head in Kaduna. Worse, one project in Ogun State failed because corroded and reused cables caused a fire outbreak.

The result? Millions of dollars in stranded assets and villages slipping back into energy poverty.

Solutions: From Quick Fixes to Long-Term Shifts

1. Hold Contractors Accountable

Problem: Poor workmanship and shortcuts plague projects.

Solutions:

• Enforce strict quality standards: Ban second-hand equipment in public contracts. Require certifications for solar panels and batteries.
• Local technicians: Train community members – especially women -to handle basic maintenance. In Rwanda, “solar sisters” repair systems and earn steady incomes.
• Third-party inspections: Independent engineers should verify installations before payment is released. NEMSA ought to play this role, but in many cases, it is not apparent that they did their jobs.
• Long-term contracts: Tie contractor payments to system performance over 2–3 years, not just installation.

2. Better Tech for Tougher Conditions

Problem: Cheap, fragile tech fails under harsh realities.

Solutions:

• Ditch lead-acid batteries: Upgrade to lithium-ion, which lasts longer and handles heat better.
• Remote monitoring: Install IoT sensors to alert operators to faults (e.g., low voltage, dirty panels).

3. Plan for Survival, Not Just Installation

Problem: No O&M strategy leads to collapse.

Solutions:

Mandatory O&M funds: Dedicate 20 per cent of project budgets to maintenance. Kenya’s mini-grid rules require this, ensuring cash for repairs.

Clean energy franchises: Partner with local shops to sell spare parts and offer repairs. A pilot in Sokoto uses motorcycle taxis to dispatch technicians.

Community task forces: Assign villagers to clean panels monthly and report faults. A small stipend or free power can incentivise this.

Carbon Credits: Access to green bonds, finances, and bonuses for carbon mitigation

Metering: Adequate and secure metering infrastructure to guarantee payment collection and reduction in energy theft

4. Make Payment Easy—And Fair

Problem: Tariffs don’t match realities.

Solutions:

• Pay-as-you-go (PAYG): Let users pay via mobile money, like airtime. Kenya’s M-KOPA uses this to sustain 250,000 solar systems.
• Anchor clients: Partner with businesses (e.g., rice mills) to guarantee revenue. In Benue, a mini-grid powers a fish farm that covers 40 per cent of its costs.

5. Communities Must Own the Power

Problem: Projects imposed from above breed distrust.

Solutions:

• Co-design systems: Involve locals in site selection and tariff setting. In Niger State, women’s groups helped design a mini-grid that now powers a shea butter cooperative.
• Energy literacy: Teach communities how electricity can boost incomes, e.g., through nighttime tutoring, charging shops, or irrigation.
• Renewable Energy Users Cooperatives–REUCS: Create community associations to take ownership of the project by carrying them along from the design, and construction to the commissioning phases.

Policy Reforms: Breaking the Cycle

Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and state governments must:

• Blacklist rogue contractors: Publish names of firms delivering substandard work.
• Simplify standards: Adopt clear, enforceable guidelines for mini-grid design and O&M.
• Link grants to sustainability: Fund only projects with realistic O&M plans and community buy-in.
• Economic Catalysts: Linking Mini-grids to Growth Sectors

To truly thrive, mini-grids must go beyond basic lighting – they should power industries that drive prosperity. Two sectors with transformative potential:

1. Data Centers and Digital Hubs

Nigeria’s tech sector is booming, but unreliable power stifles innovation. Mini-grids can unlock rural digital economies:

• Data Centres: Deploy small, energy-efficient data centres powered by mini-grids to serve local businesses, schools, and government offices – especially in the universities. These hubs can offer cloud storage, internet services, and IT training. Globally, we have 60GW of data centres and are on track to build another 10GW this year, but they are mostly in North America, Europe, and Asia. Some of the new capacity can be built in Africa; otherwise, we have the same inequality in intelligence infrastructure as we have had in the last 100 years of electricity infrastructure.
• Hybrid Systems: Pair solar with lithium-ion batteries and backup generators to ensure 24/7 reliability for critical infrastructure. In Rwanda, a solar mini-grid in Bumba supports a tech hub where young entrepreneurs code and stream courses.
• Job Creation: Data centres need technicians, security, and admin staff—roles that can be filled locally.

2. Agriculture and Agro-Processing

Agriculture employs 70 per cent of Nigerians but suffers from post-harvest losses and low-value exports. Mini-grids can revolutionise this:

• Cold Storage and Processing: Power cold rooms to preserve tomatoes, fish, or dairy, reducing waste. In Kenya, mini-grids run by Powerhive support avocado oil processing, doubling farmers’ incomes.
• Electric Irrigation: Replace diesel pumps with solar-powered systems, cutting costs for smallholder farmers. A project in Katsina uses mini-grids to irrigate maize fields, boosting yields by 30 per cent.
• Value-Added Products: Install electric mills, grinders, or oil presses to process crops locally. A shea butter cooperative in Niger State, powered by a minigrid, now exports directly to global markets.
• Policy Support: Offer tax breaks for agribusinesses using mini-grids and fund pilot projects linking farmers to clean energy.

The Bigger Picture: Electricity as a Catalyst

Functional mini-grids aren’t just about lightbulbs. They’re about students studying after sunset, clinics refrigerating vaccines, and farmers irrigating fields. When mini-grids work, they lift entire economies.

But sustainability requires humility. “We’ve learned that installing a mini-grid is the easiest part,” says a developer in Niger State. “Keeping it alive is the real test.”

A Call to Action

Nigeria’s mini-grid struggles are fixable – with accountable contractors, smart maintenance plans, and communities in the driver’s seat. The goal isn’t just to build more systems but to nurture them.

Donors and officials must shift from counting megawatts to measuring impact: How many businesses opened? How many batteries survived five years? How many families still pay bills?

The world is watching. If Nigeria cracks this puzzle, it won’t just electrify villages – it’ll light a path for the 600 million Africans still living in the dark.

About the Author: Dr Tobi Oluwatola is the CEO of TAO Energy and an energy access advocate working on decentralised renewable solutions in West Africa.