Commercial
Commercial solar cost in Nigeria
For businesses, solar is a fuel-substitution decision. The question is not what the system costs, but what it costs relative to the diesel and grid spend it removes.
Indicative cost by business type
Consumption figures below are measured load profiles from the PureWatts industry library — the same profiles the design tools run against — not segment averages. Businesses that operate mainly in daylight can cut these figures substantially by reducing the battery bank.
Sizing assumes five hours of backup autonomy. Your own operating hours and outage exposure will change the storage requirement significantly.
Solar against diesel
Diesel generation in Nigeria delivers energy at a high cost per kWh once fuel, servicing, oil, filters and eventual overhaul are counted — and that cost rises with fuel prices every year. Solar and storage front-load almost all of their cost and then hold it flat for two decades.
- • Diesel cost per kWh rises with fuel price; solar cost per kWh is fixed at purchase.
- • Generators run inefficiently at low load, which is common outside peak hours.
- • Hybrid systems let the generator run only at high load, when it is most efficient.
- • Reduced runtime extends generator life and cuts servicing frequency.
The actual crossover depends on your diesel price, generator efficiency and runtime. The pre-feasibility analysis calculates it from your figures.
Estimate your commercial system
Your prepaid meter token shows units purchased in kWh. Monthly figure ÷ 30 gives your daily average.
How long the battery should carry your load with no sun and no grid.
77.2 kW
Solar array
104.2 kWh
Battery storage
64.3 kW
Hybrid inverter
Indicative installed cost
₦45.2m – ₦61.1m
Hardware ₦45.0m + installation ₦8.1m. Generates about 250.1 kWh on an average day.
These are planning estimates. System sizes use measured Nigerian irradiance and PureWatts engineering standards; costs use the supply-and-install rates installers configure in the platform. Engineered numbers, equipment selection and a bankable financial model come from the full analysis.
What a real commercial assessment adds
Business cases need more than a size and a price. PureWatts models your load hour by hour across a full year against satellite irradiance for your exact site, optimises the solar, storage and generator mix against your chosen objective, and produces payback, NPV, IRR, lifetime cash flow and FX-risk scenarios in a board-ready report.
These are planning estimates. System sizes use measured Nigerian irradiance and PureWatts engineering standards; costs use the supply-and-install rates installers configure in the platform. Engineered numbers, equipment selection and a bankable financial model come from the full analysis.