REA Connects 15 Universities to Solar Farms Nationwide

REA Connects 15 Universities to Solar Farms Nationwide

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has announced that 15 universities across Nigeria are now fully connected to solar farms under its renewable energy intervention programmes.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of REA, Abba Aliyu, disclosed the milestone during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.

“We also have completed our interventions in the universities where we completed 15 universities as of today. All these universities now are fully connected with the solar farms,” Aliyu said.

He explained that the initiative forms part of the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, which he described as “the largest publicly funded renewable energy access project in the world.” The project is expected to provide electricity to about 17.5 million Nigerians.

Aliyu highlighted the rapid expansion of mini-grid deployment nationwide. “Today, for the first time in the country, we are deploying more than 1,000 mini-grids nationwide. These include isolated mini-grids, while we have also been aggressive in the deployment of interconnected mini-grids,” he said.

The REA boss revealed that the agency is currently working on 48 interconnected mini-grid projects in collaboration with electricity distribution companies.

“We have been moving around the country conducting groundbreaking ceremonies and setting deployment targets of between six and eight months for all the interconnected mini-grids,” he added.

Aliyu also emphasized efforts to attract private-sector financing into renewable energy.

“We have convinced a number of Nigerian banks to support the sector, and we have signed several memoranda of understanding covering equipment financing, debt…