Nigerian and Kenyan farmers can be first step to making rural mini grids more profitable and affordable

Posted on 28 May 2025 • Science, maths, computing and technology

In Nigeria and Kenya, many small to medium farms and rural grain-milling businesses are not connected to the national electricity grid. They still use petrol or diesel generators for power. Energy, agriculture and development researchers Temilade Sesan, Lucy Baker, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography at The Open University, and colleagues set out to discover how these agribusinesses could get electricity from renewable energy mini grids at a price that would make the mini grids commercially viable, affordable for the farmers, and able to provide an electricity supply for low-income rural households.

What are mini-grids and why are they important?

Mini grids are small networks that generate and distribute electricity. They are often powered by renewable sources, such as solar photovoltaics, hydro-electricity, or a mixture of diesel and solar power. The networks are sized to generate between 10 kilowatts and 10 megawatts of electricity for homes and businesses in a community. For example, one megawatt of electricity can power about 2,000 homes in Nigeria.

Mini grids generate far less electricity than national electricity grids, which typically generate thousands of megawatts. Yet, mini grids can deliver a very important supply of electricity in remote, rural areas where it is difficult or even impossible to connect to the national grid.

Nigeria is one of the world’s top five countries with a national mini grid programme. It plans to install 2,700 mini grid projects by 2030. It is hoped this will be a more cost-effective way to reach the 40% of the country’s population currently without an electricity connection than extending the national grid.

In Kenya, more than 110 mini grids have been developed by the government and the private sector. A further 150 projects are under development.

Read the full article on The Conversation

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