Solar home systems provider Lumos has just secured US$35 million from the US-based Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to accelerate the spread of its electrification solutions in Nigeria. This is the second funding Lumos has received in a few weeks.
After Ivory Coast, Lumos has obtained funds to boost its activities in Nigeria. The solar home systems supplier has received US$35 million from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a new agency created by the merger of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) and the Development Credit Authority (DCA).
Lumos wants to use these funds to increase the distribution of its solar kits in Nigeria. According to this company based in Amstelveen in Holland, more than 160 million people in Nigeria have no access to electricity. The West African country therefore represents an opportunity for Lumos, which wants to electrify an additional 1 million people through the distribution of 160,000 solar home systems to households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas.
A development policy that appeals to financial partners
“Solar home systems offer a rapidly deployable energy solution for a global market of more than two billion people. Currently, 740 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have little or no access to electricity. By offering a single power solution to the mass market, Lumos is revolutionising and decentralising power supply in the region, in the same way that mobile phones have revolutionised communications,” says Lumos.
The DFC funding ($35 million) comes just weeks after the Dutch Development Finance Corporation (FMO) invested in Lumos to spread its solar home systems in Ivory Coast. In Nigeria, the solar kit supplier’s market share will increase with DFC funding.
In addition to support from development finance institutions, Lumos receives support from the Nigerian federal government through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). The agency has provided a €75 million grant to Lumos to electrify one million households in Nigeria by 2025. This other funding is part of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Jean Marie Takouleu
