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    Open data

    Nigeria rooftop solar data: every state, every local government area

    We modelled every mapped building in Nigeria. 70,767,755 carry a viable rooftop, together holding 957m kWp of roof capacity and spending ₦38.8tn a year on grid power and generator fuel. 72% of them run a generator.

    Viable buildings

    70,767,755

    Roof capacity

    957m kWp

    4.28bn m² usable roof

    Energy spend

    ₦38.8tn/yr

    32.8bn kWh/yr from generators

    Median payback

    2.1 yr

    Median IRR 51% (cash saved)

    The national savings bracket

    Approach B

    Cash saved

    What these buildings stop paying — merit order, capped at current spend.

    Current energy spend₦38.8tn/yr
    Year-one cash saved₦36.1tn
    Lifetime cash saved₦1535tn
    NPV₦233tn
    Median IRR51%
    Median payback2.1 yr
    Unlocked energy36.8bn kWh/yr
    Approach A

    Energy value (upper bracket)

    What the energy is worth if full latent demand were met. Not cash saved.

    Installed capacity182m kWp
    Capex₦173tn
    Year-one energy value₦150tn
    Lifetime energy value₦6914tn
    NPV₦1167tn
    Median IRR113%
    Median payback0.9 yr

    Three ways to size Nigeria's rooftops

    Solar + battery. The default headline scenario, and the one the SEO fact base quotes. Prices the energy a full solar+storage system would deliver.

    Baseline: mixed
    Counterfactual: grid when available, generator otherwise, weighted by the NTL-derived grid availability. The realistic case, and what the headline numbers use. Always falls between grid and genset by construction.

    Read with care: Sized to LATENT demand — the energy the building would use if it could. Against a cash baseline that only reflects today's spend this looks oversized; that is what sc3 exists to fix.

    System size
    182m kWp
    Capital cost
    ₦173tn
    Year 1 savings
    ₦150tn/yr
    NPV
    ₦1167tn
    Median IRR
    113%
    Median payback
    0.9 yr

    How many rooftops in Nigeria actually pay

    Counted building by building on the cash-saved basis (merit-order sized, valued against what the building spends today), not read off an average. 70,767,755 of 70,767,755 clear a positive NPV.

    Payback

    Under 3 years43,678,936 (62%)
    Under 5 years50,414,208 (71%)
    Under 7 years70,104,840 (99%)
    Under 10 years70,767,755 (100%)

    Return (IRR)

    Above 10%70,767,755 (100%)
    Above 15%70,767,755 (100%)
    Above 20%57,767,665 (82%)
    Above 25%48,901,083 (69%)

    What hardware costs right now

    Median advertised rates from our Nigerian market tracker — the same prices used to cost a system in Nigeria.

    Solar panels

    250

    ₦/W

    Inverters

    127,419

    ₦/kVA

    Batteries

    177,500

    ₦/kWh

    National breakdowns

    Load profile

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Residential68,324,22649,262,637₦28.8tn₦26.7tn51%2.1 yr
    Commercial General1,020,754535,735₦4.06tn₦3.93tn25%4.1 yr
    Commercial Retail785,481358,331₦136bn₦135bn25%4.1 yr
    Anchor340,171237,609₦5.18tn₦4.72tn47%2.4 yr
    Worship174,962135,239₦154bn₦152bn49%2.1 yr
    Industrial69,81648,964₦267bn₦251bn45%2.4 yr
    Hospitality26,1819,849₦183bn₦165bn25%4.6 yr
    Filling Station9,5324,813₦12.4bn₦12.4bn25%4.1 yr
    Productive Use8,6655,834₦8.07bn₦8.06bn47%2.1 yr
    Mall Retail6,5942,100₦28.2bn₦27.4bn25%4.4 yr
    Automotive1,373466₦2.58bn₦2.58bn21%5.1 yr

    Roof size band

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Under 30m230,067,62323,741,890₦813bn₦792bn55%1.9 yr
    100 250m212,612,9797,948,811₦12.5tn₦11.7tn35%3.1 yr
    50 100m212,593,3478,278,867₦4.33tn₦4.11tn47%2.4 yr
    30 50m211,614,3228,206,665₦1.21tn₦1.15tn55%1.9 yr
    250 1000m23,775,4582,357,908₦14tn₦13tn31%3.4 yr
    Over 1000m2104,02667,436₦5.95tn₦5.39tn37%2.9 yr

    Settlement type

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Urban Centre25,026,06110,434,008₦13.8tn₦13.2tn21%5.4 yr
    Unclassified16,574,82615,706,178₦7.66tn₦6.8tn59%1.9 yr
    Urban15,140,60813,745,425₦9.62tn₦9tn65%1.6 yr
    Dense Urban7,213,1374,316,847₦4.58tn₦4.23tn35%3.1 yr
    Rural6,632,0536,386,294₦3.16tn₦2.85tn71%1.4 yr
    (Unset)181,07012,825₦15.6bn₦13.7bn19%6.1 yr

    Browse by state

    How these numbers are produced

    Approach A — energy value (upper bracket)

    Sizes the system to the building's full latent demand and values that energy at the mixed grid/generator tariff. It answers what the energy is worth — not what anyone currently pays.

    Approach B — cash saved (lower bracket)

    Sizes the system to demand that is actually served today, values it by merit order (solar displaces generator kWh first) and caps it at current spend. It answers what a building stops paying.

    Cohort: Viable rooftops (≥0.6 kWp potential).

    • Demand is modelled latent demand, not metered consumption.
    • Fuel is priced at ₦1,800/litre (operator-set). NBS reported ₦3,277/litre for May 2026 — on that basis every naira figure here is roughly 1.8× understated.
    • Generator ownership is a model output, not a survey result: it follows from the grid-availability scale and the 25% demand-suppression assumption.
    • Approach A prices energy nobody currently buys. Its savings must never be read as cash saved.
    • Demand is MODELLED LATENT demand, not metered consumption.
    • Generator ownership is model output, not survey.
    • Medians do not combine across groups — re-derive from the histograms.
    • Per-building files are float32 with 4 significant figures; cast to float64 before summing, because polars keeps Float32 sums in Float32.
    • Null scenario fields mean the roof cannot host 0.6 kWp, not zero savings.
    • `genset` was previously named `diesel` and now uses the segment's real fuel.
    • Ordering holds by construction: grid savings < mixed < genset.

    Frequently asked questions