IRENA sees 568 MW near-term solar mini-grid market in West Africa

pv magazine reported that IRENA sees Nigeria as the largest share of the near-term opportunity at almost 400 MW of PV, followed by Burkina Faso at 91.7 MW, Mali at 56.3 MW and Senegal at 20.3 MW. The agency says solar is best suited for more than 98% of suitable mini-grid sites in the four countries. Delivering tier-two universal supply by 2030 would require about 2.25 GWh of battery storage, led by Nigeria. The findings matter for solar developers and financiers because they quantify a distributed PV-storage market tied to electrification rather than only utility-scale procurement.