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A 2019 estimate suggested that 2 billion people living in grid-connected areas experienced annual blackouts of 100 hours or more, and this lack of reliability is a barrier to economic development. These populations often fall through the cracks of government and donor support, as they live too close to the grid to benefit from programs that target off-grid areas. Enter undergrid mini grids. Such systems – either interconnected with the main electricity grid, or operating in isolation from it - are increasingly being built and operated in locations served by existing grid-connected distribution enterprises.
In this ESMAP Global Facility on Mini Grids webinar participants heard about the latest lessons from the emergence of undergrid mini grids, delving into specific examples from Nigeria and India. Those present were sector innovators, including mini grid developers deploying undergrid mini grids in both countries, a pioneering Nigerian distribution company – the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) – working with interconnected mini grids, and the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency (REA), which is scaling up interconnected mini grids through its groundbreaking Nigeria DARES program.
The webinar also provided key insights from the recently published ESMAP study on Undergrid mini grids: Mini Grid Solutions for Underserved Customers: Key Lessons from Nigeria and India.
Learn more about ESMAP's Global Facility on Mini Grids.