Nigeria Launches $500m Renewable Energy Fund to Boost Access 20th March 2025

A new $500 million Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Nigeria Fund has been established through a partnership between the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and Africa50 to finance renewable energy projects in Nigeria.

The agreement was formalized at the SEforALL Global Forum in Barbados, marking a key step toward enhancing Nigeria’s energy infrastructure.

The fund will focus on raising capital to address challenges such as currency volatility, tariff structures, and limited local currency financing options while driving private sector investment in renewable energy.

Targeted investments include mini-grids, solar home systems, commercial and industrial power solutions, embedded generation projects, and energy storage technologies. These initiatives aim to deliver more reliable and cost-effective power to Nigerian homes and businesses.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of SEforALL, highlighted the significance of the fund, stating, “This fund will attract the long-term patient capital required to scale projects, especially from institutional investors. With the Fund’s targeted focus on scaling up decentralised energy solutions, we are one step closer to achieving universal energy access across Nigeria.”

Aminu Umar-Sadiq, Managing Director of NSIA, emphasized the fund’s potential, saying, “The DRE Africa Platform represents another major step in our commitment to unlocking Africa’s renewable energy potential. With the DRE Nigeria Fund, we are creating a scalable model to attract global investments, drive industrial development, and enhance energy access for millions of Nigerians and Africans at large. This initiative underscores our belief that sustainable infrastructure is critical to economic transformation, and we are proud to collaborate with SEforALL, ISA, and Africa50 to turn this vision into reality.”

The fund will receive catalytic capital from the International Solar Alliance through the newly announced Africa Solar Facility.

Ashish Khanna, Director-General-Elect of the International Solar Alliance, underscored the importance of private investment, noting, “Mobilising private investments and promoting catalytic finance through grants and equity is the key to a sustainable, energy-secure future for the African region, which currently receives only three per cent of global solar investments. We’ll begin with Nigerian homes and businesses and then take it to all countries of the continent.”

Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobisse added that the partnership aims to unlock financing instruments at scale, addressing Africa’s energy access gap, empowering millions, and driving economic growth across the continent.