Regular visitors to Nigeria will know well the inescapable sound of generators that hum day and night.
By some estimates, the machines spanning Africa’s most-populous nation can produce as much as 75 gigawatts of power — well above the amount South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy, can muster.
While helping to fill the energy deficit that the government can’t, about 90 million people — the biggest number in any country — remain without access to electricity.
That may be coming to an end. Across Nigeria, a revolution is beginning to take place.
Solar streetlights are being installed and business-friendly regulation, supported by hundreds of millions of dollars of World Bank funding, is seeing the rollout of mini-grids and home systems powered by the sun.
For those benefiting, that’s led to a sea change in quality of life.
Access to lighting and power boosts productivity, enhances leisure time and, as Manoj Sinha (who runs the world’s largest mini-grid firm) says, it allows Nigerians to “drink chilled beer after a long afternoon.”
The West African nation imported solar panels capable of producing 1,721 megawatts in the 12 months to June.
That was the second most on the continent and unlike in South Africa, the biggest importer, most of them are going to houses or systems focused on serving small communities rather than commercial plants built to supply the national grid.
After generations of sitting in the dark or paying for expensive fuel, Nigerians are finding the march of technology is allowing them to solve their own problems.
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