FG Breaks Ground on 17.7MW Ibadan Solar Mini-Grid Targeting 22,597 Connections

The Federal Government has commenced construction of a 17.7-megawatt interconnected solar mini-grid in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a DARES programme intervention designed to deliver at least 20 hours of electricity a day to five communities along the Iwo Road corridor.

The groundbreaking, conducted by the Rural Electrification Agency through the Federal Ministry of Power, covers the Bola, Jiboye, Ogo-Oluwa, Molade-Adelubi and Sooko-Elega community clusters across Akinyele, Ido, Ibadan North, Egbeda and Lagelu local government areas. Paras Energy & Natural Resources Development Limited is developing the project.

Power Minister Joseph Tegbe, who led the ceremony at Bishop Phillips Academy, ruled out an accompanying increase in electricity tariffs, saying the government is prioritising supply reliability over higher prices. IBEDC managing director Deolu Ijose put the target at an estimated 22,597 connections once the system is commissioned.

What is being built

The scheme combines a 17.7MWp solar photovoltaic generation system with 17.74MW of battery energy storage, interconnected with IBEDC's existing distribution network rather than operating as a standalone island. Eighteen new transformers will reinforce last-mile distribution in the beneficiary communities.

Interconnection matters commercially. Isolated mini-grids can serve a cluster but leave surplus capacity stranded; tying into the disco's grid allows excess generation to be absorbed and creates a framework for tariffs, metering and collection that standalone systems often struggle to sustain. IBEDC has prior experience through the Mokoloki mini-grid in Ogun and the Oke-Oyi project in Kwara, commissioned in September.

The 20-hour daily supply target is deliberately ambitious relative to what most Ibadan residents currently receive from the grid. Whether the project can hold that promise through the dry season, when solar output is strongest but demand also peaks, will be the operational test once commissioning is complete.

A wider Ibadan cluster

REA chief Abba Aliyu said the project is part of a growing pipeline of distributed renewable energy interventions under the Renewed Hope Agenda. The agency is advancing another 17.7MW of projects in Ibadan aimed at strategic institutions, including University College Hospital, the University of Ibadan and The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Together, the two interventions are intended to build clusters of reliable generation around residential communities, public hospitals and economic centres rather than scatter capacity thinly across the map. Longer operating hours, lower dependence on petrol and diesel generators and cheaper power for productive users are the economic case.

The open questions are operational: who collects tariffs, how quickly unmetered customers are billed, and whether battery replacement costs in year seven and beyond are priced into the business model. Distributed solar has failed in Nigeria less on technology than on those commercial mechanics. If the Ibadan cluster clears them, it becomes a template; if it does not, it becomes another commissioned asset with an unsustainable O&M plan.