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Gov Mbah backs ₦310bn 100MW distributed solar programme brokered by CDIP – EnviroNews
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Proposed 100MW programme marks CDIP’s first major investment engagement as Governor presses for competition, affordable tariffs and accelerated delivery
Governor Peter Mbah has pledged Enugu State Government’s support for a proposed 100-megawatt Solar Hybrid Interconnected Networks for Enugu (SHINE) power programme estimated at $220 million, or approximately ₦310 billion, in the first major investment breakthrough brokered by the state’s Climate and Development Investment Platform (CDIP).
At a meeting with Eauxwell Nigeria Limited at Government House on Monday, October 5, 2026, the Governor welcomed the investment opportunity while pressing for affordable electricity, a competitive market and faster project delivery.
Eauxwell set out its ambition for Enugu: a 100MW programme of solar hybrid plants across the State, built up from clusters of peri-urban areas on the existing distribution network and delivered in phases over three years. Within that programme the company has identified a number of core sites, and it proposes to begin with the Eha-Amufu and Owo cluster, a 10MW plant with battery storage serving the thirty communities on the two feeders between the towns, which it has already designed to pre-construction stage.
The engagement was brokered through CDIP by its Coordinator and the Governor’s Special Adviser on Climate Policy and Sustainable Development, Professor Chukwumerije Okereke. It demonstrates the platform’s role in connecting investors with the government decisions, regulatory coordination and community support needed to advance climate and development projects.
The meeting brought together the Secretary to the State Government, who also chairs the CDIP Steering Committee, and the Commissioners responsible for Environment and Climate Change, Trade and Investment, and Lands. The Governor’s advisers responsible for Project Delivery and Power, alongside electricity regulators, also participated.
Olufemi Akinyelure, Head of the Nigeria Electrification Programme at the Rural Electrification Agency, joined virtually to explain the structure, objectives and implementation processes of the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme.
Eauxwell estimated the initial Eha-Amufu and Owo plant at approximately ₦31 billion, or $22 million. The company explained that its financing structure for each plant is expected to combine equity, debt and grant funding through the Rural Electrification Agency.
The company’s financing presentation formed part of a detailed discussion of electricity tariffs, commercial arrangements and the practical steps required to deliver the programme. Implementation remains subject to completion of the relevant agreements, regulatory approvals, land arrangements and applicable financing conditions.
While welcoming the proposed investment, Governor Mbah emphasised the need for an electricity market that encourages competition, building on Enugu’s electricity reforms and its assumption of regulatory oversight of the intrastate electricity market.
Affordability was central to the discussion. The Governor examined Eauxwell’s tariff assumptions and financial model, stressing that legitimate cost recovery must be balanced with electricity prices that households and businesses can afford.
Eauxwell acknowledged the need to meet both objectives and said the final tariff would be determined in collaboration with the electricity regulators.
The Governor called for a shorter implementation timetable and pledged the government’s support to advance delivery.
For communities and businesses, the programme offers the prospect of more dependable electricity for homes, shops, agricultural processing and other productive activities. Eauxwell’s presentation envisages distributed solar generation supported by battery storage, with the Eha-Amufu and Owo plant as the first cluster and further clusters following in later phases.
The meeting also addressed the separate Aninri electrification project, for which the State is working to move into construction expected to commence in the coming weeks.
CDIP’s first major investment engagement has brought a substantial opportunity into active discussion and assembled the institutions needed to address the barriers to delivery. With the Governor’s support, the next task is to turn the proposed ₦310 billion programme into agreed commercial terms, completed approvals and electricity that communities can use and afford.
The speed with which the meeting was convened, with all relevant ministries, departments and agencies represented, underscored the wisdom of the Governor’s directive earlier this year to place CDIP under his office to strengthen coordination and accelerate delivery.
