British International Investment, the United Kingdom’s development finance institution, in partnership with Odyssey, has launched a $7.5 million financing facility to accelerate the deployment of mini-grids across Nigeria.
In a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday, the facility is expected to expand access to clean and reliable energy for underserved communities, strengthen Nigeria’s energy transition agenda, and support rural electrification initiatives.
According to the partners, the new funding will help developers scale up mini-grid projects, which are regarded as cost-effective solutions for electrifying off-grid areas, thereby fostering economic growth and improving livelihoods.
Speaking on the initiative, the Deputy British High Commissioner, Jonny Baxter, said the investment reflects the UK’s confidence in Nigeria’s clean energy sector.
“British International Investment has demonstrated its confidence in Nigeria’s clean energy sector through its strategic investments.
This is a signal that opportunities for the private sector to drive forward the renewable energy revolution in Nigeria and across Africa are growing,” he said.
He added that UK finance is “playing a pivotal role in unlocking green growth and establishing Britain as a credible global partner on climate action in line with our Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership with Nigeria.”
Also speaking, BII’s West Africa Regional Director, Benson Adenuga, noted that mini-grids will be key to addressing Nigeria’s energy access gap.
“About 90 million people in Nigeria do not have access to electricity. Mini-grids powered by clean and affordable energy sources have a vital role to play in rapidly reducing that number. I am delighted that BII is partnering with Odyssey to accelerate the development of such projects,” he said.
On his part, co-founder and Managing Director of Odyssey, Piyush Mathur, said the partnership with BII would ease financing challenges for solar developers.
“BII has demonstrated a progressive and practical approach to unlocking financing challenges in distributed energy. Their support allows us to offer flexible, affordable financing options that meet developers where they are so that we can collectively accelerate electrification across Nigeria,” he said.
Odyssey, which currently works with over 3,000 installers and manages more than $3bn of available finance on its platform, said its procurement solution is the latest addition to its end-to-end platform designed to fast-track clean energy deployment in emerging markets.
