Nigeria has exported locally manufactured solar panels to Accra, Ghana, signaling a transition from a renewable energy consumer to a regional supplier.
The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Dr. Abba Aliyu, disclosed this during a webinar organized by the African Association of Energy Journalists and Publishers (AJERAP).
He emphasized Nigeria’s potential for solar deployments in border communities to support cross-border electricity trade, strengthening regional integration and energy security.
According to him, Nigeria’s electrification model is increasingly being recognized across the continent, with countries such as Mozambique, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, and Mauritius engaging with the REA to replicate elements of its approach.
He also disclosed that Nigeria is making significant strides in localizing its renewable energy value chain, with installed solar panel manufacturing capacity increasing from 120 megawatts (MW) two years ago to approximately 300MW currently, and an additional 3.7 gigawatts (GW) in the pipeline.
This positions the country to emerge as a leading renewable energy manufacturing hub in West Africa, with growing potential to serve regional markets, he said.
He attributed this progress to deliberate policy direction under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Nigeria First Policy, which prioritizes local content development and domestic manufacturing.
According to him, 2025 marked a defining year for Nigeria’s solar industry, with imports of solar cells and components for local assembly reaching 837MW more than the cumulative 375 MW imported in all previous years combined, and overtaking finished product imports.
This, he said, represents a powerful demonstration that the Nigeria First policy is driving a structural shift toward domestic manufacturing.
He added:”This momentum is being reinforced by approximately $425 million in investment earmarked for the establishment of 8 renewable energy manufacturing facilities across the country, alongside additional commitments secured at the Nigeria Renewable Energy Innovation Forum (NREIF) 2025. These developments are helping to build an integrated ecosystem spanning manufacturing, deployment, and financing, while creating the scale needed for long-term sustainability.”
Dr. Aliyu emphasized that REA’s large-scale deployment programmes such as the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) and Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) are now providing the predictable demand required to sustain domestic manufacturing, ensuring that local production is matched with real market opportunities.
He further noted that Nigeria’s regulatory environment continues to evolve to support this growth, with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) expanding the framework for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) enabling projects of up to 10MW capacity under decentralized and Interconnected Mini-Grid generation structures, thereby unlocking new opportunities for private sector participation.
The next phase of the Nigeria Renewable Energy Innovation Forum (NREIF 2.0) will focus on regional integration and positioning Nigeria as a central hub for renewable energy manufacturing, innovation, and trade across Africa, he revealed.
