Chinese Company Secures World Bank Financing to Provide Solar Power to Nigerians

Chinese company Sun King, the world’s largest off-grid solar company, have secured financing from a World Bank-backed programme to to provide off-grid solar power to Nigerians in a bid to boost electrification in Nigeria.

According to Bloomberg, the company secured a naira-denominated loan of $80 million from the International Finance Corp. and Stanbic IBTC Bank Ltd to help finance the provision of electricity to as many as 4 million Nigerian households over the next four to five years.

The company in a statement on Thursday revealed It is the largest local-currency facility for energy access in West Africa to date. This latest credit facility adds to the 2 million homes Sun King already has funded.

“What’s really exciting about this is that it’s a local-currency facility” so the company doesn’t have to take foreign-exchange risk, Anish Thakkar, a co-founder of the company, said in an interview. It “allows us to provide the most affordable financing to customers,” he said.

About the Loan

The loan falls under a World Bank and African Development Bank drive to bring electricity to 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

The Mission 300 program envisages tens of billions of dollars of investments in energy projects being rolled out across the continent and was highlighted at an inaugural conference in Tanzania earlier this year.

The loan is the biggest local-currency facility secured by Sun King and follows a $75 million deal in Kenya in 2021.

Nigeria has been a major focus of the World Bank’s electrification programs. In December, the bank facilitated a $750 million loan to Nigeria for electrification using renewable power technologies.

The World Bank also expects private investment of more than $1 billion to be attracted as a result and electricity access to be extended to 17.5 million people.

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