Welight, an organization that develops minigrids in sub-Saharan Africa, recently announced a landmark achievement – the electrification of 186 remote villages in Madagascar and Mali.
The organization said in a statement announcing the milestone that it has directly connected approximately 10,000 people a month to a minigrid since the beginning of the year, bringing its total number of people connected to nearly 200,000.
Electrification, or the lack thereof, is a persistent issue across Africa, particularly in the sub-Saharan region that is home to most of the nearly 600 million people on the continent who lack access to affordable electricity.
Only 29% of Madagascar’s population and 39% of Mali’s have access to electricity. South Sudan, at 8%, holds the dubious distinction of being the least electrified country in the world.
In some African nations, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), electricity access has been stunted by decades of conflict and political instability. In others, the cost of bringing grid power to the millions who live in remote communities is simply not economically feasible.
Minigrids bring light, and so much more
Minigrids are increasingly changing the energy landscape in many of Africa’s poorest and most isolated regions. Sometimes referred to as remote microgrids or metrogrids, minigrids are typically built and operated in areas without access to a central electric grid.
This is what sets them apart from microgrids, which are typically grid-connected systems capable of disconnecting from the central grid during outages or for economic reasons.
Like microgrids, minigrids can vary in size. Depending on the system’s generation and energy storage capabilities, a minigrid can serve a single location, an entire village, or even a large remote community.
Minigrid systems use software to control distributed renewable energy resources like solar panels and battery storage, providing remote communities with reliable, clean and affordable power.
Often, minigrids displace diesel generators, which are expensive to run and frequently unreliable, especially if there are interruptions in fuel deliveries.
Minigrids are in high demand across the continent in places like Zambia, Ethiopia and Nigeria. In fact, Nigeria is one of the largest minigrid markets in the world with over 100 systems currently online.
The technology is powering homes, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and agricultural operations, bolstering the economy and creating new jobs for residents. It’s even improving access to legal services, enabling residents to settle disputes that might otherwise go unresolved for years.
Additionally, new minigrid-powered street lights are improving community safety and extending the day for villages that used to essentially shut down with each evening’s sunset.
A global effort
Technical and financial assistance to develop minigrids is coming from around the world with numerous private companies and non-governmental organizations active in the region. The World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the United Nations Development Program are but a few of the organizations actively funding minigrid projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
It was recently announced that the African Development Bank will be leading financing for a large minigrid project in the DRC, where electrification rates hover around 19% and 77 million people don’t have access to electricity. The $340 million Moyi Power Project is a utility-scale private sector-led electrification program that promises to deliver clean, reliable power to more than one million people in three remote cities. The project includes 24/7 electricity and street lighting in each city.
“Moyi showcases the transformative potential of blended finance and private sector partnerships in bringing clean, reliable energy to underserved communities, and we are confident it will serve as a model for future projects," said Kevin Kariuki, vice president for power, energy, climate and green growth at the African Development Bank.
U.S.-based Husk Power, one of the most active minigrid developers in the region in recent years, operates a fleet of more than 200 solar hybrid microgrids in places like Nigeria and Tanzania, impacting more than a half million people.
Minigrid expansion efforts are also home grown.
Africa-based Welight, which is focused on projects in Madagascar and Mali, is among the growing number of utilities, local companies and government agencies leveraging microgrid and minigrid technologies to deliver electricity to remote communities in their own backyards.
In Rwanda, where 35% of the population lacks access to reliable electricity, Nano Nuclear Energy is working with the Rwandan government to develop microgrids powered by nuclear microreactors. The company is developing prototype microreactors and small modular nuclear reactors with the hopes of deploying them in Rwanda. However, none are operating commercially as of yet.
Building a new kind of power grid
Minigrids aren’t just for remote communities – they can also serve as a bridge for those living on the grid edge, accelerating and reducing the cost of grid connections.
Interconnection with the grid was always the endgame for the Kiwumu minigrid in Uganda. Developed by a coalition of centralized and decentralized energy companies, nonprofit organizations and a host of other partners, what was once a minigrid pilot project has now been absorbed by the larger grid.
The Kiwumu project, dubbed “Twaake,” or “let’s light” in the language of the Ugandan people, utilized an integrated energy design leveraging both centralized and decentralized technology to deliver clean energy more quickly and at a lower cost than would be possible by simply expanding traditional transmission and distribution infrastructure.
It was recently recognized for its work in delivering economical, clean energy to a rural community.
A continent powered by minigrids?
In 2024, Microgrid Knowledge covered nearly a dozen different minigrid projects in Africa. With many of those projects serving as models for other communities, development across the continent shows no sign of slowing in 2025.
Despite the progress that’s been made in recent years, there is much work yet to be done. It will be a herculean task to provide clean, reliable and affordable power to 600 million people spread across the 9.6 million square miles that make up sub-Saharan Africa. However, minigrids have proven themselves to be a key electrification strategy that’s up to the task.
