BoI takes renewable energy to off-grid community in Anambra

Succour may have come the way of about 200 homes located in the Onono-Anam, Anambra west Local Council Area, as The Bank of Industry (BoI) connected off-grid solar project to eradicate black out in the community.

Acting Managing Director, BoI, Waheed Olagunju, who officially launched the project recently, disclosed that the bank had to apply special considerations to see to the reality of the project, which is one of six pilots embarked on across the country in collaboration with the UNDP, with a total exposure of about N240million.

“DFI’s globally are set up to intervene in sectors of the economy where market driven institutions will ordinarily not operate. So this initiative is a classic example, we had to tweak our terms and conditions to suit the circumstance of the programme.

“Normally we lend over an average of six to seven years at 10 per cent, but in this case we had to double the tenure to 15 years and reduced the interest rate from 10 per cent to seven per cent. That is because the cash flow in this rural area cannot viably service our normal terms.

“Also in terms of security, our fixed asset coverage is normally two, so we had to tweak this such that we have an all asset debenture on the equipment on ground and the personal guarantees of the project promoters who are internationally acclaimed solar energy experts recognised by the United States government, AfDB and General Electric,” he said.