The Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA) wants to help Nigeria’s mini power grid market grow its competitiveness, and has selected Clean Technology Hub (CTH), an Abuja-based hybrid firm as its national representative in Nigeria.
On its webpage, CTH says it is ‘a pioneering hybrid hub for the research, development, demonstration, and incubation of clean technologies for increased energy access and improved climate resilience.’ Aaron Leopold, Chief Executive Officer of AMDA confirmed the appointment in a letter sent to OGN.
In a recent market research it published, AMDA disclosed that opportunities for investments in mini grids have mostly opened up and afterwards increased in East Africa, resulting in about 181% increase in mini grid connections each year.
In the letter, Leopold said: “We are proud to be working with CTH given their pioneering work on research, development, demonstration and incubation of clean energy technologies as well as their work with other key industry associations in Nigeria.”
He stated that as AMDA’s national representative, “the CTH will work with mini grid developers in Nigeria and AMDA’s core team to develop a clear roadmap and action plan to radically scale up the sector via increased investment and continuous collaboration on the broader enabling environment.”
What to expect…
According to AMDA, as part of the new partnership, “over the coming weeks, CTH will be working to build a solid framework to promote the sector that will include: mapping key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the sector, analysing key regulations and policies, identifying gaps and highlighting challenges affecting developers, and understanding the priorities of the government for the sector.”
CTH will also within the partnership, “develop S.M.A.R.T. objectives for radically accelerating sector growth, and engage with bilateral and multilateral donors to input into their work, co-develop new support mechanisms and ensure current programmes are addressing sector needs.”
AMDA thus requested the support of market stakeholders on its plans to help grow the sector’s competitiveness and offerings. It explained that this will help address the challenges of energy poverty in Africa by increasing energy access through clean and renewable energy sources.
