The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Dr. Abba Aliyu, has asserted that the agency’s latest wave of mini-grid deployments is specifically engineered to bypass the systemic flaws that have historically weakened Nigeria’s national grid.

In a statement, the REA boss explained that the agency is now deploying mini-grids directly within isolated communities to provide completely independent electricity.

Speaking on the sustainability of the agency’s projects, Aliyu noted that the agency has internalized lessons from the national grid failures.

He added that the agency ensures that every mini-grid installation includes its own dedicated distribution network and 100% metering.

He said: “We’ve learned from the mistakes of the main grid, so every mini-grid we deploy includes a distribution network, 100% metering, and a SCADA system that allows performance to be monitored via a phone.

“In peri-urban communities with existing distribution networks but unreliable power, we bring in our generation plant. We work with distribution companies (DisCos) through service-level agreements, where we provide solar power during the day and the DisCos are expected to provide power at night. If the DisCo fails to provide power, our battery storage system kicks in. We are also currently deploying 50 interconnected mini-grids that will inject 280 megawatts of reliable supply into the grid.

“By combining decentralized generation with real-time digital oversight and redundant storage systems, the REA aims to create a resilient energy architecture that is no longer vulnerable to the cascading failures seen in traditional centralized models,” he said.