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    Cross River State

    Rooftop solar in Ikom, Cross River: what the roofs are worth

    Ikom has 54,655 buildings with a viable rooftop and 1.25m kWp of roof capacity. 85% run a generator, and together they spend ₦68.9bn a year on energy.

    Viable buildings

    54,655

    Usable roof area

    5.56m m²

    1.25m kWp roof capacity

    Energy spend

    ₦68.9bn/yr

    65.2m kWh/yr burned on generators

    Median payback

    1.9 yr

    Median IRR 57% (cash saved)

    The savings bracket for Ikom

    Approach B

    Cash saved

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

    Current energy spend₦68.9bn/yr
    Year-one cash saved₦67.3bn
    Lifetime cash saved₦2.86tn
    NPV₦450bn
    Median IRR57%
    Median payback1.9 yr
    Unlocked energy62.7m kWh/yr
    Approach A

    Energy value (upper bracket)

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

    Installed capacity325k kWp
    Capex₦296bn
    Year-one energy value₦262bn
    Lifetime energy value₦12tn
    NPV₦2.04tn
    Median IRR113%
    Median payback0.9 yr

    Three ways to size Ikom'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
    325k kWp
    Capital cost
    ₦296bn
    Year 1 savings
    ₦262bn/yr
    NPV
    ₦2.04tn
    Median IRR
    113%
    Median payback
    0.9 yr

    How many rooftops in Ikom 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. 54,655 of 54,655 clear a positive NPV.

    Payback

    Under 3 years39,607 (72%)
    Under 5 years47,212 (86%)
    Under 7 years54,655 (100%)
    Under 10 years54,655 (100%)

    Return (IRR)

    Above 10%54,655 (100%)
    Above 15%54,655 (100%)
    Above 20%47,638 (87%)
    Above 25%45,095 (83%)
    CO₂ avoided

    125m kg/yr

    Fuel avoided

    34.4m L/yr

    Energy unlocked

    62.7m kWh/yr

    Demand that is suppressed today

    People served

    244k

    What hardware costs right now

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

    Solar panels

    250

    ₦/W

    Inverters

    127,419

    ₦/kVA

    Batteries

    177,500

    ₦/kWh

    Building mix in Ikom

    Load profile

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Residential47,35040,740₦45.5bn₦44.3bn61%1.6 yr
    Commercial General3,5482,650₦12bn₦12bn41%2.6 yr
    Commercial Retail2,0881,391₦572m₦572m31%3.6 yr
    Industrial816772₦2.7bn₦2.68bn59%1.9 yr
    Anchor675574₦7.68bn₦7.39bn47%2.4 yr
    Worship8869₦85.8m₦85.8m43%2.4 yr
    Filling Station5430₦44.3m₦44.3m27%4.1 yr
    Hospitality3018₦185m₦185m27%4.1 yr
    Mall Retail41₦8.18m₦8.18m23%4.6 yr
    Productive Use22₦13.5m₦13.5m31%3.4 yr

    Roof size band

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    100 250m216,17413,909₦27.7bn₦27.2bn61%1.6 yr
    Under 30m212,69710,754₦1.02bn₦894m57%1.9 yr
    50 100m211,3479,893₦4.93bn₦4.75bn59%1.9 yr
    250 1000m27,2225,600₦28.5bn₦27.8bn51%2.1 yr
    30 50m27,1436,030₦1.05bn₦1.05bn55%1.9 yr
    Over 1000m27261₦5.69bn₦5.5bn49%2.1 yr

    Settlement type

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Urban Centre18,37812,210₦13.4bn₦13.3bn31%3.6 yr
    Urban13,01812,524₦17.8bn₦17.2bn67%1.6 yr
    Unclassified8,8778,611₦12.3bn₦11.9bn55%1.9 yr
    Dense Urban7,8336,353₦9.37bn₦9.37bn59%1.9 yr
    Rural6,5496,549₦16bn₦15.5bn69%1.6 yr

    Lead segment

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    Standard50,41542,970₦48.6bn₦47.3bn59%1.9 yr
    SME High2,7541,936₦9.89bn₦9.89bn31%3.4 yr
    Enterprise1,4861,341₦10.3bn₦10bn55%1.9 yr

    Demand tier

    SegmentBuildings With generator Spend ₦/yr Cash saved yr 1 (B) Median IRR Median payback
    3.020,47819,047₦49.2bn₦47.8bn
    2.011,0099,724₦6.2bn₦6.08bn
    0.09,1859,045₦548m₦548m
    4.08,0173,342₦3.45bn₦3.43bn
    1.03,9483,764₦952m₦932m
    5.01,5341,005₦3.9bn₦3.9bn
    6.0484320₦4.62bn₦4.62bn

    Nearby LGAs in Cross River

    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.