The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has launched the Renewable Asset Management Company to manage and sustain publicly funded renewable energy assets in universities and teaching hospitals across Nigeria.
The Managing Director of the REA, Abba Aliyu, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during the official launch of RAMCO, saying the initiative was created to address the deterioration of renewable energy projects after commissioning.
Aliyu said the agency had deployed 82 megawatts of solar hybrid generation across 22 federal universities and three teaching hospitals since 2017 through its Energising Education Programme.
However, an assessment of seven projects delivered under the programme’s first phase showed that only three were in good or usable condition.
“At one institution, the required special purpose vehicle had been established, but no single revenue is collected from the sale of the electricity being generated by that infrastructure,” Aliyu said.
He explained that the deterioration of the projects was not caused by engineering failure but by the absence of sustainable maintenance arrangements, reliable revenue mechanisms and an institution responsible for preserving the assets throughout their economic lives.
According to Aliyu, RAMCO was created as the agency’s institutional response to these challenges.
He said the company would professionally manage publicly financed renewable energy assets, contract competent operators, meter electricity consumption, issue bills, collect payments and maintain the equipment.
The launch was carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Power, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the Budget Office of the Federation and the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria.
“RAMCO’s mandate is straightforward: manage publicly financed renewable energy assets professionally; contract competent operators; meter, bill and collect; maintain sustainability of all this equipment,” Aliyu stated.
He said the company would also establish a funding mechanism for replacing major components, including batteries and inverters, when they reach the end of their useful lives.
“If a battery or inverter requires replacement, we shouldn’t return to the Ministry of Finance. We should be able to have an economic fund to replace that battery or inverter. The money should already be there, and the deployment has to start today,” he said.
Aliyu stressed that RAMCO was not designed to generate profits from institutions where the government had already funded the capital assets.
Instead, he said tariffs would be structured to cover the cost of operating, maintaining and renewing the renewable energy systems.
He added that beneficiary institutions would be expected to contribute to the sustainability of the projects by paying for the electricity they consume.
“The government has funded this asset, REA has built them, but the beneficiary institution must contribute to sustaining them by paying for the electricity they consume,” he said.
Aliyu cited the solar plant at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi, as an example of the benefits of properly managed renewable energy infrastructure.
The plant, which was commissioned in 2019, serves more than 9,500 staff and students.
According to Aliyu, the facility generated about N1.8 billion in combined savings from avoided diesel purchases and electricity bills during its first five years of operation while preventing approximately 2,367 tonnes of carbon emissions.
He said the proposed tariff system should be viewed as a sustainability mechanism rather than an additional financial burden on universities.
“This is a sustainability tariff. It’s not simply a new exposure or burden on the universities. It is just a simple redirection of the part of what that institution would otherwise spend on expensive diesel or pay for electricity,” Aliyu said.
The REA boss said the RAMCO model would help reduce reliance on repeated government appropriations for renewable energy infrastructure while creating a platform capable of attracting private investment.
He added that renewable energy assets that are professionally managed and generate predictable revenue could eventually be aggregated and financed to support additional electrification projects.
Aliyu also disclosed that the REA was partnering with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and InfraCo to support local manufacturing of solar modules, batteries, inverters, street lighting equipment and solar asset recycling.
He said $425 million had been invested in the manufacturing cycle as of last year.
The REA plans to conclude the valuation and technical assessment of existing renewable energy assets before transferring them to the RAMCO partnership and establishing operation and maintenance arrangements for projects under the Energising Education Programme.
The agency will also engage beneficiary institutions, the National Universities Commission, the Ministries of Education and Health, and the Budget Office to establish accountable tariff and payment arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated backed the initiative, noting that several Federal Government projects had been abandoned after completion because of poor maintenance.
He said MoFI had developed a national asset register of Federal Government projects that had been checked, verified and evaluated.
The MoFI chairman urged the Federal Government to ensure that universities were properly carried along in the implementation of the RAMCO initiative to support effective tariff payment and the long-term sustainability of the projects.
