The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency Nigeria (REA), Abba Aliyu, has expressed confidence in the sustainability of the agency’s expanding portfolio of mini-grid projects aimed at improving electricity access across Nigeria.
Aliyu said the agency’s new energy deployments have been deliberately designed to overcome structural weaknesses that have historically undermined electricity supply from the national grid.
According to him, the REA has adopted a different approach to rural and peri-urban electrification by building decentralised energy systems that operate largely independent of the country’s fragile centralised grid infrastructure.
Speaking in a recent interview, he explained that the strategy focuses on deploying mini-grids directly within underserved and isolated communities, enabling them to generate and distribute electricity locally without relying on long transmission networks that are often vulnerable to disruptions.
Aliyu noted that the design philosophy behind the projects was informed by years of operational challenges within Nigeria’s power sector, including grid collapses, weak distribution infrastructure, and poor metering systems.
He said the REA has integrated lessons from these challenges into the architecture of its mini-grid systems to ensure improved efficiency, transparency, and resilience.
“We have learned from the shortcomings of the main grid. Every mini-grid we deploy comes with its own distribution network, 100 per cent metering and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system that allows us to monitor the performance of the grid remotely, even from a mobile phone,” he said.
The REA boss explained that the integration of digital monitoring systems enables the agency to track performance in real time, detect faults quickly, and ensure operators maintain service standards.
Beyond rural communities that currently lack electricity access, Aliyu disclosed that the agency is also extending its interventions to peri-urban areas, where distribution networks exist but power supply remains inconsistent.
In such communities, the REA installs solar-powered generation plants that provide electricity during the day while collaborating with electricity distribution companies to supply power at night through service-level agreements.
Under this arrangement, solar plants generate daytime electricity, while the distribution companies supply power from the national grid after sunset.
However, Aliyu said battery storage technology has been integrated into the systems to ensure continuous supply if the distribution companies fail to deliver electricity as agreed.
“We provide solar power during the day while the DisCos are expected to supply power at night. If the DisCo fails to supply power, our battery storage system automatically kicks in,” he explained.
Aliyu further revealed that the agency is currently deploying about 50 interconnected mini-grids across the country, a project expected to inject approximately 280 megawatts of additional electricity into Nigeria’s power system.
He described the initiative as a major step toward strengthening Nigeria’s energy access landscape while reducing reliance on a single centralised power architecture.
According to him, the combination of decentralised power generation, digital monitoring, and battery storage solutions is helping to create a more resilient energy ecosystem capable of delivering reliable electricity to communities that have historically been underserved.
Aliyu added that the mini-grid model is also supporting economic activities in rural areas, enabling small businesses, agro-processing ventures, and other productive enterprises to thrive.
He maintained that continued deployment of the systems would help Nigeria build an alternative electricity infrastructure that complements the national grid while ensuring millions of households and businesses gain access to reliable power.
