Harvesting sunshine for productive use of energy in agriculture

RMI has researched the transformative potential of mini-grid electricity in Nigerian

agriculture, demonstrating how productive use of energy can significantly reduce

electricity production costs while boosting agricultural productivity.

Nigeria’s 170 mini-grids (stand-alone solar and energy storage systems that serve rural

utilities) run the risk of not supporting energy supply and use in tandem.

While the systems are the cheapest way to electrify many off-grid communities, they are underutilised in Nigeria because, on average, customers spend less than $2 a month on power. They simply cannot afford the equipment.

This leads to utilities cutting supply hours and not maintaining their grids as low sales render them near insolvent.