GVE Nigeria

The Green Village Electricity (GVE) project is a rural electrification scheme designed to provide clean and reliable energy to off-grid rural communities in Nigeria based on a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) revenue col­lection system.

Developed by GVE Projects Ltd, the plan is to construct isolated mini electricity distribution grids in 72 villages across seven states in Nigeria, each with an installed capacity of between 24kW to 500kW, depending on the size of the community.

Once completed, the mini-grids will provide first-time energy access to an estimated 73,500 people, directly supporting Nigeria’s high-priority target of 90% energy access by 2030 (Rural Electrification Strategy and Implementation Plan 2016).

REPP is providing funding and access to long-term debt to help build the project into a sustainable business that can attract funding from private sector financial markets, while at the same time contributing towards its own objective of transforming the energy sectors in target countries.

As of the end of 31 March 2022, four of the 72 sites had been completed, resulting in a 0.43MW increase in renewable generating capacity and the connection of 25,915 people to electricity for the first time. ESIAs had been completed for all the sites and work is progressing.

Mini-grids offer multiple benefits for Nigeria’s rural communities, where access to electricity is sometimes as low as 5% of households. The GVE pilot projects, for example, reported a 40% reduction in energy-related expenditure for their customers, while also increasing productivity, particularly for agro-processing facilities.

Proving the business model and viability of this project is expected to then attract international investors interested in developing the small-scale renewable energy sector in Nigeria.