Harvesting Sunshine

This executive summary describes the Energizing Agriculture Programme (EAP), which tested business models to deliver productive uses of energy (PUE) equipment to rural agribusinesses in Nigeria to increase incomes and improve minigrid profitability.

• The Energizing Agriculture Programme (EAP) demonstrated that switching from fossil fuel-powered equipment to electric PUE alternatives can reduce energy costs for agribusiness owners by up to 82 percent. Additionally, a $61,000 investment in PUE resulted in a 2x yield in value-added commodities within one year of operation.
• PUE deployment significantly improves the economics for minigrid developers. The use of a 3-ton cold room, the largest energy-consuming PUE, can reduce the levelized cost of energy by 25 percent. Furthermore, minigrids serving multiple PUE loads can produce electricity at half the cost of those serving primarily residential customers.
• The EAP provides recommendations for scaling PUEs in Nigeria: the government should exempt equipment from import duties and establish quality standards; PUE companies should improve pay-as-you-go offerings and O&M capacity; minigrid developers should identify PUE opportunities before construction; investors should provide working capital and credit guarantees; and donors should fund non-revenue-generating activities like needs assessments.

APA

RMI (2024). Harvesting Sunshine. https://rmi.org/resources/harvesting-sunshine/

Chicago

RMI. Harvesting Sunshine. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/harvesting-sunshine/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Harvesting Sunshine |date=3 September 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/harvesting-sunshine/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024harvesting, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Harvesting Sunshine}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/harvesting-sunshine/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }