There is a story for everyone (Mini-Grid Tales)

Energy access is crucial to Africa's growth, and it's entwined with a slew of numerous unserved community dwellers. Renewable energy projects in rural communities are beautiful and, interestingly, one of the rural communities in Oyo state, which shares a border with Benin and other African countries, will be dived into. On arrival, the team, by unspoken concession, nicknamed the community "no man's land" because of the array of people from different ethnic groups in Nigeria and neighbouring countries such as Guinea, with one common interest, which is to mine precious stones. Ironically, the precious stone miners in the community outrightly believe in luck as being one's greatest asset for success to be achieved on the mining sites. One might wonder why the luxury of technological innovation has yet to be utilised. A camp for miners, as it was created, has over time become a home for numerous families. Fascinatingly, some have lived in that community for more than 30 years with the hope that one day they will dig down to get precious stones worth millions of naira.?

Our presence was welcomed by most of the community dwellers, and the core goal of the project was to electrify the community through the Solar PV-Genset Hybridized Mini-Grid system. The project created an amazing atmosphere of excitement amidst expected disbelief about the transformation of the sun into electricity. For a community without access to two major economic and life catalysts, which are network connection and electricity, the electrification project distilled a whole lot of hope that one-day network companies will find that axis economically viable to install a communication mast.?

During project execution, enveloped was a collection of missed feelings from the elderly ones who were still in the utmost surprise of having electricity come to their motherland in the most innovative way, which was from the sun, whose presence had lived with them all their lives. They constantly praised the technology alongside the observatory as the day went by to witness every phase of the sun's sudden transformation ability to electricity. The younger ones showed enormous ownership of the project, with the most inquisitive ones found engrossed in the project at almost zero cost for service. The pride of being partners with the “solar guys” to execute such an impactful community project was topmost in their motivation to work on-site with the project team. Women were also instrumental, most notably in the personnel's hospitality. We ate their food, played with their kids, and engaged their services on the job and in negotiations. Women are such a powerful force for every community project's smooth execution. Unfortunately, because most unserved communities share borders, visitors from neighbouring communities were common. communities on the project site come to show interest in making such projects available in their vicinity. We made sure to share knowledge about the processes required because the inquiries stemmed from a shared curiosity about what could be done to provide them with electricity access as well.

According to the World Bank, about 85 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity. This shows just how many communities that possess the willingness and ability to pay are not connected to the national grid. More work from all stakeholders is imminent for rapid and total Nigerian community electrification. On one certain day, a funny experience occurred with a man whose community was an access route to the allotted project site to be powered by our Solar PV-Genset Hybridized Mini-Grid system. He shabbily threatened that we would not be permitted to pass through his community without stopping to carry out an electrification project spotted in their neighbouring community.

Each step during the installation process brought its challenges, but as professionals, we maintained our cool, solved arising problems, and converted the doubters to believers. The cost of electricity and the capacity of the Solar PV-Genset Hybridized Mini-Grid system were recurring concerns for all boundaries. Business owners with refrigerators were incredibly happy upon coming to the realization that the system could power their appliances and not just light bulbs and fans, thereby boosting their income. The process of electricity unit purchase was also frequently asked about. During one of my break walks, I asked a man in the phone charging business for his honest opinion on the project's disruptive impact on his business, but to my greatest surprise, the genuine entrepreneurial spirit he witnessed was unparalleled. The man replied, "No, it won't." I will just diversify and start selling electronics. " No doubt, rural communities house some of the smartest entrepreneurs, with enormous potential to boost our country's IGR if basic enabling infrastructure were in place. The mining of precious stones such as agate is the community dwellers' major business, yet still, the people find it dutiful to venture into other businesses while waiting for the day luck shines precious stones on them. Provision stores, welding, daily catering services, bread and bakery, and transportation are all built-in businesses.?

In all sincerity, the people were fun, friends were made, snippets of new languages were learnt, some adventure was had on native meals, and it was hard to say goodbye. A man from the north once persuaded me to go tell his people to come and join him to find precious stones, boasting of having so much money in the business. When I asked if he would ever come back home to northern Nigeria, he responded by saying, "Yes, I will when I find a stone so I can return as a big man." I hope luck finds him, as it is their belief. Fundamentally, there are technological innovations that are proven to be effective in the mining of precious stones and should be encouraged to be implemented. (Precious Stones: Mining Commodities | Mining Journal (mining-journal.com) & gx-za-en-innovation-in-mining.pdf (deloitte.com))

Gwanzuwang Jonah (MIAENG) and Dennis Ebenezer, PMP?