PayGo transforms East Africans electricity access, Nigeria plays catch-up
PayGo, a solar home systems technology backed by an innovative financing mechanism to help customers self-finance their access to clear solar power has made significant inroads into East Africa but Nigeria still plays catch-up.
Azuri Technologies owned PayGo solar homes systems is a commercial provider of electricity to rural off-grid communities, without having end-users pay high upfront fees, but instead pay small, regular amounts via mobile phone technology.
With the widest reach of any provider in Sub Saharan Africa, Azuri is leveraging solar and mobile technology to allow users in 11 different countries to access power on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The Nigerian Government has an ambitious Renewable Energy Policy which aims to increase energy production from renewable energy sources from 13 percent of total electricity generation in 2015 to 23 percent in 2025 and 36 percent in 2030. Part of this plan is the goal to increase the percentage contribution of solar energy to the total energy mix.
“Nigeria needs to quicken adoption of off-grip solutions. To achieve that, we need to allow an effective distribution of solar equipment and solar home systems, SHS, like in East Africa, which facilitated complete adoption of the PayGo systems while in Nigeria adoption is still low” Ubah Benson, chief energising officer, CEO at Solarify said during August 06 Tweet Chat under the aegis of #GridlessAfrica, an advocacy group.
One of the challenges the industry faces in Nigeria is the question of warranty claims for SHS when the system goes bad from poor installation and improper usage, “the end-user usually denies voiding the warranty terms and condition” Benson added.
Despite success stories in East Africa, renewable energy has yet to be widely adopted in Nigeria as an alternative power solution. Off-grid communities in Nigeria have relied on kerosene lanterns or candles for their energy needs, with many unable to purchase solar power systems outright owing to the high costs. Solar Home Systems offer an affordable and environmentally friendly option.
According to the United Nations’ Climate Change (UNCC) agency, tens of thousands of units have been distributed in 11 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa; in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, Togo, and Ghana
Hundreds of thousands of people have benefitted from the clean energy that Azuri solar home systems provide. Azuri calculates that 28.5 million hours of clean light and 9.5 million hours of mobile phone charging have been provided, resulting in 3,504 tonnes of carbon dioxide, CO2 emissions avoided to date.
This is why Azuri’s entry into the Nigerian market in 2017 with its PayGo Solar Home Systems was cheery.
Azuri’s PayGo Solar Home systems have the capacity to power four LED bulbs providing up to 8 hours of lighting, a radio and a USB port with charging cables for mobile phones.
Customers pay the monthly top-up rate via mobile money for 36 months after which time the unit can be unlocked and the customer owns the unit. In a move to upsell its services, Azuri then provides these customers with options to upgrade to a larger system.
Solar projects in Africa are picking up momentum. Social impact investors, many of which are backed by United States-based or European funds, have focused on this area especially in trying to get electricity to remote rural areas which are unlikely to be connected to a traditional electricity grid anytime soon.
San Francisco-based Off-Grid Electric, which serves about 150,000 people in Tanzania, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, and recently expanded to Ghana, has secured $55 million funding which will be focused on research and development and further expansion of its services on the continent. The Series D funding was led by Helios Investment Partners, with support from GE Ventures.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU