An agreement has been signed between CrossBoundary Energy, an investment fund that finances off-grid projects, and Jabi Lake Mall, an Abuja shopping centre, owned by the British investment fund Actis
The Jabi Lake Mall shopping centre in Abuja will soon be running on solar energy. The British investment fund Actis, which owns this wholesale and retail shopping centre, has recently signed an agreement with CrossBoundary Energy, an investment fund that finances off-grid projects and that will provide a solar off grid to Jabi Lake Mall. The small solar photovoltaic power plant will be installed on the roof of the mall.
“We were looking for a solar solution that could produce clean energy for the centre and provide a sustainable and autonomous alternative to the grid and diesel. We are delighted to be working in partnership with Crossboundary Energy to achieve this,” says Funke Okubadejo, Real Estate Director and Head of Actis’ Nigeria office. This new contract with Crossboundary Energy comes at a time when, in Nigeria, companies are increasingly turning to the solar off grid due to failures in the national electricity grid.
An Off Grid of 600 kW
In this off-grid project, Crossboundary is working on the roof top of the Jabi Lake Mall with the German company Soventix. The latter will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the solar off grid, which will have a 600 MW capacity. As is customary with Crossboundary Energy projects, Actis, the owner of the Jabi Lake Mall, will not participate in the financing of the project. It will only pay a monthly invoice including maintenance, monitoring and insurance costs over a period of 15 years. The installation would avoid CO2 emissions of 13,000 tonnes.
Crossboundary Energy and Actis are already bound by another contract in Kenya. It concerns the construction of a solar car shelter in Garden City Mall, Nairobi. Crossboundary Energy is also not on its first off-grid project in Nigeria. In March 2019, the company signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB), a large brewing company, to supply a 650 kW solar off grid in the southeastern city of Ibadan.
The project to install a solar off grid on the Jabi Lake Mall roof is supported by the Solar Nigeria programme, an initiative implemented by Adam Smith International, with funding from the British government. The Shell Foundation is also supporting the project.
Jean Marie Takouleu
