Adapting Rural Electric Cooperatives to the Nigerian Mini-grid Context

• In Event: Clean Energy Transitions in Developing and Rural Contexts

Abstract

Electrification in sub-Saharan Africa is lagging governmental and international goals for universal electricity access, and Nigeria is home to the largest unelectrified population globally. Nigeria, like many countries on the Continent, are exploring rural electrification using solar mini-grids, in addition to more traditional grid extension. In 2021, the Rural Electrification Agency in Nigeria released a framework for Rural Electric Users Cooperative Society (REUCS) in the country to own, operate and maintain electricity networks for solar mini-grids, solar home systems, and solar streetlights. The goal of the REUCS is to foster community involvement with sufficient government engagement to support long-term viability of mini-grids for rural electrification in Nigeria. This paper explores the implementation of the REUCS framework in two pilot locations in the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria to understand the institutional framework for the REUCS in Nigeria and whether it helps overcome some of the identified challenges with mini-grid development, including low demand and challenges with sufficient cost recovery.  We use mixed methods – interviews with government and local REUCS committees, and a business and household survey (approx. 450 respondents) – to trace the understanding of the REUCS within each case study location, compare this to the design of the REUCS in the Framework, and to the community understanding of the REUCS from the perspective of business and households. Finally, we compare the institutional structure of the REUCS to cooperative models in sub-Sarahan Africa (Burkina Faso) and other examples in the Global South (Costa Rica, Philippines, and Brazil) to understand whether the REUCS model shared similar institutional features to successful examples of cooperative-based electrification in the Global South.  We find that the REUCS model in our two pilot locations is only partially implemented with a model more approximating a cross-sector shared revenue model rather than a cooperative. We also find that the potential for the REUCS to evolve into a more trusted local organization is present, but current understanding of what an electric cooperative is and would do is low with limited local capacity to carry out management functions. By evaluating the Nigerian approach against the structure of other electric cooperative approaches, we find substantial gaps in the institutional support being provided to this nascent program. The global context in which Nigeria is proposing the REUCS framework differs substantially from prior eras of rural electrification that provided resources to build both oversight and implementation capacity. Rural electrification using mini-grids continues to be a core part of World Bank and other funded rural electrification efforts globally, yet a completely private-sector driven model has failed to provide durable electricity access in many countries despite substantial investments. The Nigerian REUCS approach has the potential to adapt a cooperative model to the mini-grid sector with lessons that could inform future iterations of funding across sub-Saharan Africa.

Author

• Elise Harrington, University of Minnesota
  Presenting Author