Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and co-founder Microsoft, during a tour of the Arnergy manufacturing facility Wednesday 21st June at Lagos, discussed with Arnergy management, financiers, and industry experts about the challenges and prospects of adopting renewable energy in Nigeria.
During the visit of Arnergy’s facility, a portfolio company of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BEV, experts called for partnerships with financiers and collaboration with industry leaders to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in Nigeria, especially in light of the removal of petrol subsidies and the increase in electricity tariffs.
They also said that the petrol subsidy removal and increase in electricity tariff have opened a new market for the renewable energy sector.
“I see a huge energy transition opportunity where distributed solar solutions like Arnergy’s displaces gasoline generators for millions of SMEs in Nigeria given the recent fuel subsidy removal,” Gates said.
Not realizing a large number of Nigerians rely on petrol generators, Gates said that it is a huge thing for the renewable energy market.
He also pointed out that financing customers and reducing the cost of systems will be critical for scale. Femi Adeyemo, CEO of Arnergy, highlighted the modular Arnergy 5000 lithium battery energy storage systems (BESS) and its proprietary energy management hardware and Solarbase software that were developed by the company’s innovative young Nigerian engineers with an average age of 26 years.
The technology allows financiers, channel partners, and consumers to lease and pay for energy at a cost cheaper than current spend on diesel and petrol generators. Existing customers are in love with her real-time Internet of Things (IoT) remote monitoring and control of the power systems that allow remote shut down and turn on and energy efficiency advisory from anywhere in the world on Android and IoS platforms.
He emphasized that their cost-competitive and durable technology can provide viable alternatives, enabling numerous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and businesses to transition from fuel generators to BESS, hedging themselves against the effect of petrol subsidy removal.
“Our goal is to ensure that millions of SMEs are provided a platform to transition their businesses seamlessly to clean energy on the back of the petrol subsidy removal,” Adeyemo said. “With the solutions we have developed, SMEs can see 30 to 40 percent savings monthly compared to petrol expenses.”
For Rotimi Thomas, CEO, SunFi, it is not just access to finance or how cheap the product is but the speed in providing renewable energy to customers and the trust the customers have of purchasing a reliable product with great customer experience that Arnergy offers. “Customers want it now. That speed and the trust that the system won’t break are two important factors for the customers,” he said.
Bunmi Adekore, Partner, Breakthrough Energy said that the micro-economic environment enables the acceleration of renewable energy. “The challenge that needs to be uncovered is to get more commercial banks to participate in financing the customers by removing the upfront cost barrier,” he said.
According to Adekore, modularization and decentralization in Nigeria’s energy sector are key.
“The majority of Nigerians rely on diesel generators to power their lives and livelihoods. Arnergy is working to change that with modular solar solutions. I had a chance to visit their office in Lagos last week, and it’s safe to say I was arnerg-ized by our conversations.” – Bill Gates
About Arnergy
Arnergy is a distributed energy utility company that provides sustainable renewable energy solutions to energy reliability issues across emerging markets. Founded in 2013, Arnergy designs and manufactures technology-enabled stand-alone solar rooftop solutions, providing affordable, reliable, and clean energy for corporates, SMEs, and communities.
Arnergy drives impact and positive outcomes in the local economies sustainably and profitably by displacing carbon-intensive energy sources while addressing energy reliability gaps and offering cost optimizations for businesses and individuals. Arnergy is backed by a core investor base of top-tier foreign and local institutional investors, which include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, EDFI ElectriFI, Norfund, and Shell-seeded All On.
You can email [email protected], call 08002288888, or send a Whatsapp to 08092308888 today to learn more about Arnergy Solar Solutions and how they can deliver on your energy needs.
