By Chioma Obinagwam
As part of its commitment towards ensuring clean, reliable and accessible energy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be injecting $5 million into renewable energy projects in the country.
Chief of Party, Winrock International- a major partner in the USAID Nigeria Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects (REEEP), Javier Betancourt stated this in an interview with Confiance News.
He said: “Well, we’re working with the CBN to make funding available in local currency for renewable energy projects. The CBN is going to finance $5 million on a pilot basis. As I said, it is starting slow to see if it works out but they’ll be around $5 million for 20 mini-grid projects in Nigeria.”
Betancourt further disclosed that the debt side of the financing of the projects will be coming from the CBN whereas the equities side of the financing will be from the developers.
He noted that the CBN’s involvement in providing local currency for the projects is commendable as it hedges against Foreign Exchange (Forex) risks.
Recall that the CBN has made several financial interventions in major sectors of the economy including the power sector.
Also, Winrock International through its partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has successfully delivered on a number of projects with regards to renewable energy and the latest being the completion of a 2.15 megawatts power project that ensured that 261,938 Nigerians received clean and reliable energy for the first time.
