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    Akwa Ibom State

    Rooftop solar in Onna, Akwa Ibom: what the roofs are worth

    Onna has 15,110 buildings with a viable rooftop and 420k kWp of roof capacity. 100% run a generator, and together they spend ₦61.1bn a year on energy.

    Viable buildings

    15,110

    Usable roof area

    1.86m m²

    420k kWp roof capacity

    Energy spend

    ₦61.1bn/yr

    56.7m kWh/yr burned on generators

    Median payback

    1.6 yr

    Median IRR 65% (cash saved)

    The savings bracket for Onna

    Approach B

    Cash saved

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

    Current energy spend₦61.1bn/yr
    Year-one cash saved₦59.7bn
    Lifetime cash saved₦2.53tn
    NPV₦407bn
    Median IRR65%
    Median payback1.6 yr
    Unlocked energy44.1m kWh/yr
    Approach A

    Energy value (upper bracket)

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

    Installed capacity198k kWp
    Capex₦190bn
    Year-one energy value₦175bn
    Lifetime energy value₦8.11tn
    NPV₦1.38tn
    Median IRR105%
    Median payback1.1 yr

    Three ways to size Onna'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
    198k kWp
    Capital cost
    ₦190bn
    Year 1 savings
    ₦175bn/yr
    NPV
    ₦1.38tn
    Median IRR
    105%
    Median payback
    1.1 yr

    How many rooftops in Onna 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. 15,110 of 15,110 clear a positive NPV.

    Payback

    Under 3 years14,640 (97%)
    Under 5 years15,003 (99%)
    Under 7 years15,048 (100%)
    Under 10 years15,110 (100%)

    Return (IRR)

    Above 10%15,110 (100%)
    Above 15%15,110 (100%)
    Above 20%15,027 (99%)
    Above 25%14,972 (99%)
    CO₂ avoided

    106m kg/yr

    Fuel avoided

    34.8m L/yr

    Energy unlocked

    44.1m kWh/yr

    Demand that is suppressed today

    People served

    185k

    What hardware costs right now

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

    Solar panels

    250

    ₦/W

    Inverters

    127,419

    ₦/kVA

    Batteries

    177,500

    ₦/kWh

    Building mix in Onna

    Load profile

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Residential14,21114,155₦52.8bn₦51.7bn65%1.6 yr
    Worship407407₦1.17bn₦1.17bn55%1.9 yr
    Commercial General279279₦3.49bn₦3.45bn61%1.6 yr
    Anchor145145₦3.49bn₦3.17bn77%1.4 yr
    Commercial Retail5252₦43.7m₦43.7m61%1.6 yr
    Industrial1616₦109m₦107m65%1.6 yr

    Roof size band

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    100 250m26,1186,099₦24.6bn₦24bn65%1.6 yr
    50 100m23,3103,295₦3.34bn₦3.31bn65%1.6 yr
    250 1000m22,3772,372₦30.2bn₦29.4bn65%1.6 yr
    30 50m21,6451,638₦543m₦543m65%1.6 yr
    Under 30m21,6441,634₦257m₦252m65%1.6 yr
    Over 1000m21616₦2.16bn₦2.16bn63%1.6 yr

    Settlement type

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Dense Urban6,3156,292₦23bn₦22.9bn65%1.6 yr
    Urban4,5884,573₦22.2bn₦21.6bn65%1.6 yr
    Unclassified2,9772,959₦10.9bn₦10.2bn65%1.6 yr
    Rural1,2301,230₦5.08bn₦4.96bn67%1.6 yr

    Lead segment

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Standard14,78914,733₦55.2bn₦54.1bn65%1.6 yr
    SME High161161₦2.28bn₦2.24bn61%1.6 yr
    Enterprise160160₦3.6bn₦3.28bn75%1.4 yr

    Demand tier

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    3.06,6856,670₦51.4bn₦50.2bn
    2.05,6295,608₦7.12bn₦6.96bn
    0.02,1892,173₦237m₦237m
    1.0506502₦260m₦260m
    4.09797₦1.82bn₦1.79bn
    5.044₦242m₦236m

    Nearby LGAs in Akwa Ibom

    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.