How low-carbon, cost-effective energy is empowering coastal communities in Niger Delta

It still looks surreal to Aiturari Edegbe that his community which has existed for over 200 years without connection to the power grid will soon come alive with electricity. 

Evbuwa village in Orhionmwon LGA of Edo state has been long defined by neglect and, perhaps, total obscurity. In the community, there is energy poverty and risks of climate change due to the usage of unclean energy and other practices.

For those years, residents of the coastal village have relied on lanterns powered by kerosene and generating sets for power supply – though an agrarian and fishing community. 

There have never been electricity poles in the village; and to the villagers, it’s more worrisome that they have never been considered for intervention by the authorities.

“Since when dem born me, no light. We dey put kerosene for the lantern. Na im we take dey sleep. In the daybreak, if you put your hand for your nose, na black,” Edegbe recalled in Pidgin English.

But behind this grim analysis lies a new vista in the village. An intervention by ETIN Power Limited, a female-led alternative energy provider, is changing the narrative in the coastal community. 

ETIN Power Limited is a private solar energy outfit supported by the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND) to power disadvantaged communities in the Niger Delta region.

“I never see this kind thing in this community but when ETIN Power say this thing go happen, we even think say na joke. I surprise now, the thing dey go on. We thank God,” Edegbe added. 

Championing the initiative is Yinka Omoregbe, a professor and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who is the CEO of ETIN Power Limited. 

According to Omoregbe, her firm is on a mission to build bankable communities through the use of modern sustainable energy.

“I started this initiative with my own funds and investments from two family members and I was able to get a grant from the Esler Family Foundation and PIND,” she said.

“This is the first community, Evbuwa. This is the first time ever there have been electricity poles in this community. It’s one of the two communities that we are working on in Orhionmwon LGA. The LGA is the most disadvantaged presently in Edo state.” 

A five-volt panel that absorbs sunlight all day and can power four light bulbs for an entire night, enabling children to read and study, which is part of the initiative that ETIN Power is exposing the villagers to.

There are excitement and expectations among the residents. Moses Idahosa, a cassava farmer whose livelihood will be impacted by the coming of electricity, cultivates large acres of land but had to rely on crude and manual labour to process his farm produce. 

He is enthusiastic about benefitting from the energy solutions being installed in the village.

“I have some farm investments here. I will be very happy when the investment is going on and solar is here. We would have light to process our farm produce and others,” Idahosa said.

Joseph Iyalekhuosa Idemudia, secretary of the Evbuwa community, said his folks appreciate the intervention. 

“Over 200 years, we have not got electricity in this community and I’m happy today. ETIN Power Limited has given us solar energy which everyone in the community appreciates,” Idemudia said.  

To show support for the project, John Ogieva, an elder in the locality, gave his land to ETIN to situate its office.

“We have seen that light is coming to this community. So, we have to contribute to making sure that we assist those bringing it,” the Octogenarian said. 

A BETTER LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE

Omoregbe is excited that the residents are coming out to accept the energy solution and are willing to pay for it. 

She says: “Appearance can be deceptive. You go to a community and you think to yourself that the person living in this place could never be interested in electricity, even if interested will not be able to pay for the connection. 

“And then you find out that the residents come out and pay fully for the connection.”

The people are going to experience changes in their socioeconomic life once the installation is completed.  

According to the Nigeria Energy Transition, there is a huge market in the renewable energy space, as Nigeria has about 175 million people without access to clean cooking solutions, while 92 million people lack access to electricity.

“You cannot imagine the impact of electricity on a rural community. With electricity, you have access to better health care. Through the internet, students in this community have access to better teachers globally,” Omoregbe said.

“Climate change is positively impacted and deforestation is decreased. Electrified communities are more secure. Access to electricity and productive use of appliances increases output, enhancing livelihoods.”

THE PIND INTERVENTIONS

The Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND) has continued to play a significant role in driving the market for low–carbon, low–cost solutions that offer high-quality energy access to coastal communities in the region. 

Teslim Giwa, PIND’s access to energy manager, said most Niger Delta coastal communities which have about 12 million residents are not reached by the national grid.

He said the foundation is determined to bridge the gap.

Giwa said people are benefitting from the foundation’s access to energy interventions as discovered from the “monitoring and evaluation” of the projects carried out.

 “We have a lot of data to suggest that livelihoods have been improved over the course of these interventions; many of the SMEs have made more money; they have more disposable incomes at the household level and the businesses. The developers are actually making more money and the biggest testament to that is that they are scaling up without any additional support,” he said.

Like Evbuwa, PIND supported ETIN Power Limited in the last quarter of  2022 to install a 110kWp solar mini-grid at Ajakurama community, Ovia southwest LGA in Edo state. 

Ajakurama is an hour-and-a-half boat ride. The fishing community has never seen electricity before. Giwa said the foundation’s collaboration with ETIN Power was to see that there are female energy business owners in these coastal communities.

“Female-led businesses are a rarity in Nigeria’s renewable energy space, and PIND is committed to inspiring women to become mini-grid owners. Women are considered bankable investors and usually have a higher credit repayment rate,” he said.

In the last part of 2022, the collaboration between PIND, ETIN Power Limited and Darway Coast Limited toward the deployment of community energy solutions across three coastal communities in the region leveraged N242 million in investment, paving the way for the engineering, procurement and construction of mini-grids across three communities. 

These included a 110kWp solar mini-grid at Ajakurama community, a 100kWp solar mini-grid at Toru Ebeni community, Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa state by Darway Coast limited; and a 16kWp solar energy cabin powered mini-grid at Adagbarassa community, Warri North LGA, Delta state. 

As a result, 708 households (4,506 persons) and 258 new businesses were connected to electricity in these coastal communities. Cumulatively, 882 businesses and 1,896 households have been given access to electrical goods and services in 2022. Also, ₦153.094 million was recorded as financial benefits accruing to businesses and households accessing clean energy, bringing the cumulative for 2022 to ₦595.969 million.

PIND’s partnership with ETIN Power provided grant support towards establishing their business case. This further paved the way for the company to access an innovative equipment lease facility required to finance their project in Edo state.

In addition, ETIN Power also benefited from PIND’s technical assistance facility, which includes business mentoring, advisory services, and community engagement support. The female founder’s belief inspires the company’s work in the Niger Delta. She believes in the power of energy to transform lives and create profitability for women-owned rural businesses following the well-known Solar Mama business model27.

This is consistent with PIND’s A2E programming around gender and social inclusion, which aims for equal access and participation. The support for ETIN Power as a majority women-managed project is a milestone within PIND’s efforts to advance the SDGs.

The access to energy project focuses on energy efficiency and renewable energy such as the energy cabin and solar refrigeration. While access to energy identifies and tests technological solutions, the market development project facilitates activities to develop market systems for the uptake and adoption of such technologies. 

Since 2018, PIND has been addressing this gap through alternative and affordable off-grid solutions, capable of targeting not only basic energy needs (i.e., lighting and cooking energy) but also productive use of energy at both household and rural enterprise levels (such as used in barber shops and beauty salons).