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    Nigeria rooftop solar data

    Rooftop solar in Abia State: buildings, spend and payback

    958,405 buildings in Abia State carry a viable rooftop. Together they spend ₦1.14tn a year on grid power and generator fuel, and 87% of them run a generator.

    Viable buildings

    958,405

    Usable roof area

    101m m²

    22.6m kWp of roof capacity

    Current energy spend

    ₦1.14tn/yr

    1.04bn kWh/yr from generators

    Median payback

    1.9 yr

    Median IRR 55% (cash saved)

    The savings bracket for Abia

    Approach B

    Cash saved

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

    Current energy spend₦1.14tn/yr
    Year-one cash saved₦1.11tn
    Lifetime cash saved₦47.2tn
    NPV₦7.25tn
    Median IRR55%
    Median payback1.9 yr
    Unlocked energy1.04bn kWh/yr
    Approach A

    Energy value (upper bracket)

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

    Installed capacity4.9m kWp
    Capex₦4.64tn
    Year-one energy value₦3.86tn
    Lifetime energy value₦179tn
    NPV₦30tn
    Median IRR93%
    Median payback1.1 yr

    Three ways to size Abia State'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
    4.9m kWp
    Capital cost
    ₦4.64tn
    Year 1 savings
    ₦3.86tn/yr
    NPV
    ₦30tn
    Median IRR
    93%
    Median payback
    1.1 yr

    How many rooftops in Abia State 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. 958,405 of 958,405 clear a positive NPV.

    Payback

    Under 3 years704,094 (73%)
    Under 5 years815,235 (85%)
    Under 7 years954,995 (100%)
    Under 10 years958,405 (100%)

    Return (IRR)

    Above 10%958,405 (100%)
    Above 15%958,405 (100%)
    Above 20%824,146 (86%)
    Above 25%790,088 (82%)

    What hardware costs right now

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

    Solar panels

    250

    ₦/W

    Inverters

    127,419

    ₦/kVA

    Batteries

    177,500

    ₦/kWh

    Where the opportunity sits

    Load profile

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Residential908,363790,433₦822bn₦808bn57%1.9 yr
    Commercial General24,33718,620₦133bn₦130bn39%2.9 yr
    Commercial Retail9,6796,953₦3.78bn₦3.78bn35%3.1 yr
    Anchor8,9067,384₦157bn₦146bn51%2.1 yr
    Worship3,1952,679₦5.52bn₦5.51bn51%2.1 yr
    Industrial3,0062,588₦12.5bn₦12.1bn55%1.9 yr
    Filling Station484327₦760m₦758m35%3.1 yr
    Hospitality335175₦4.15bn₦3.25bn25%4.4 yr
    Mall Retail5731₦238m₦237m27%4.1 yr
    Productive Use3720₦47.7m₦47.7m25%4.4 yr
    Automotive63₦24.5m₦24.5m19%3.4 yr

    Roof size band

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    100 250m2331,405287,147₦402bn₦396bn55%1.9 yr
    50 100m2224,450196,657₦73.3bn₦72.3bn57%1.9 yr
    Under 30m2164,754141,891₦12.1bn₦11.6bn55%1.9 yr
    30 50m2124,791108,137₦17.4bn₦16.4bn57%1.9 yr
    250 1000m2111,19793,864₦488bn₦478bn51%2.1 yr
    Over 1000m21,8081,517₦147bn₦136bn45%2.4 yr

    Settlement type

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Urban Centre486,177371,535₦515bn₦501bn39%2.6 yr
    Urban269,988264,960₦333bn₦326bn63%1.6 yr
    Dense Urban123,177118,170₦160bn₦159bn65%1.6 yr
    Unclassified64,21059,788₦111bn₦104bn59%1.9 yr
    Rural14,85314,760₦21.1bn₦20.7bn67%1.6 yr

    Lead segment

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Standard930,434807,401₦875bn₦860bn55%1.9 yr
    SME High16,46412,170₦96.1bn₦93.5bn37%2.9 yr
    Enterprise11,5079,642₦168bn₦157bn53%1.9 yr

    Demand tier

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    3.0398,879373,855₦712bn₦694bn
    4.0220,495143,672₦285bn₦277bn
    2.0156,877141,950₦64.7bn₦63bn
    0.0146,304139,710₦9.55bn₦9.55bn
    1.027,03524,435₦5.71bn₦5.66bn
    5.06,9134,377₦32bn₦30.5bn
    6.01,9021,214₦31.5bn₦30bn

    Local government areas in Abia

    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.