The Interview Series wiith Dr Wiebe Boer CEO of All On

At a time when far greater action is needed to fight climate change, the 2022 SEforALL Forum was held in Kigali, Rwanda to spark greater progress on a clean, inclusive energy transition And it was the first time the event held on the African Continent.

Renowned and global speakers participated in the Forum’s numerous events and panel discussions. One of such speakers who attended was Nigeria’s Dr. Wiebe Boer, CEO of All On. Dolapo Aina sat down with the Nigerian for an extensive interview. Do read some excerpts of the interview conducted on Thursday, 19th of May 2022.  

For those who don’t know, do let us know, what you do? And the role you occupy pertaining to the events we are here for and what brings you to Rwanda?

My name is Wieber Boer. I’m the CEO of All On. It is a $200 million fund set up by Shell to invest in renewable energy companies in Nigeria. Right now we are here in Rwanda because of the Sustainable Energy for All Forum. It is being held for the first time in Africa. And so it’s here in this amazing Kigali Convention Center in this amazing country of Rwanda.

What’s your view on sustainable energy on the African continent?

So, I think Africa has a very big energy access deficit, the largest in the world, something like 650 million people without power. 100 million or more of those are in Nigeria. And so we obviously need every possible solution to close that gap. And renewable energy is obviously one very important part of that. Now, hydropower is renewable energy and is already used quite widely in Africa. So I think, really the debate and the discussion now is around solar. And you know, it Is it strange that solar has not taken off more yet in Africa. And I think some of that has to do with costs, perceptions, awareness, all those sorts of things. But I do feel like the takeoff is about to happen. And clearly, you know, renewable energy, especially with solar, you can power a village, you can power a community, a household and very quickly, you  can power a household. You can buy a product and have your power in two hours. A mini grid community can have power in six weeks. You don’t have to wait five to seven years for the construction of a huge power plant and all that. So I think in that regard, it’s very useful. And obviously, you can also do utility scale solar, where the regulation, the infrastructure can accommodate that. And so it has a big part of it. But I don’t think the global push that Africa should find a completely renewable path to closing the energy gaps, that is energy access gap, is actual and makes sense. We were so far behind in terms of energy access, that we need all the sources we can. Countries like Nigeria, have abundant gas resources, why should we not use those; it’s cleaner than the diesel that’s being burned. So I think that debate has to be reopened and Africa has to reconsider. And African leadership has to kind of reconsider how they respond to that pressure

From what you said, some might ask as someone who is not in the know, might ask how sustainable long term is sustainable energy?

Well, it’s since it’s sustainable, it is eternal. I mean, based on the technology, a typical solar panel can last 25 years and that’s now and we know that technology is continuously improving. So, likely it will last a lot longer in future. And then, again, hydro is a form of renewable energy. There are hydro power generating facility plants on the plateau, that were established in 1926, that are still generating power today. That’s almost 100 years. So, renewable means sustainable and that means very long term.

From your in-depth of knowledge of the field, do you think there has been progression on the African continent in renewable energy and sustainable energy?

Yes. I think the industry is starting to mainstream now. South Africa, it’s really taken off. Between Egypt and Morocco, they have gigawatts of solar. The Africa in between, I think it is still sort of a long way to go. There is a 700 megawatt wind turbine in Kenya. There is one like that in Cape Verde. So, there is not that much in terms of big projects, but it is more of a smaller scale. Several million solar home systems have been sold, hundreds of mini grids have been built. It is not enough, but it is growing. It is interesting that in Nigeria, we are still only at a total national capacity that is installed capacity of 200 megawatts for solar, which is incredibly small for a country like Nigeria. And that is even after 23% annual growth for the last five years. So clearly, it is way too small. It is growing fast but it needs to grow a lot faster.

What do you think of some of the challenges in the Sustainable Energy cum Renewable Energy sector?

So, let me put focus on solar, since I think that’s the big growth, and the one that has the big growth potential. And I will speak more from the Nigerian market perspective. So first is awareness. Typically, the solar projects that we’ve been exposed to growing up or living in Nigeria, where government or donor projects like streetlights, so on. That often failed within a very short time. And so there’s this perception that does solar really work, right? Because we’ve seen all these kinds of fields. Okay. So that’s one and then generally, just people don’t know. Secondly, there is something like up to 20 to 40 million diesel generators in Nigeria. And it’s something that we’ve all grown up with and gotten used to, and we know how it works. You have the generator, you put fuel, turn it on, you hear it, when you’re done, you turn it off. With solar, it’s like you put something on the roof, there’s some cables, and then you just, there’s no sound, you just wait, it’s powered. it is not something people fully necessarily understand. And so for the typical consumer, if you’re going to invest in something that you don’t fully understand, you might just say, look, I hear this solar thing is interesting, but it’s the generator I’m familiar with, let me go and collect that. The other challenge is economic. The cost of a solar system, the upfront cost is still higher than the equivalent generator. And you know, most consumers aren’t financially endowed enough to be able to say, okay, but in three years, when I’m not paying for diesel Over three years or by three years… Most people don’t have that option, right. And so they have to buy what is within their budget. But there’s a lot of solar products and business models that provide a more sort of lower cost upfront payment, and then you pay for the power over time. And the other one is what no one wants to talk about, and that’s diesel over-invoicing. And this is a very powerful thing, because this happens in social sector, public sector, private sector. Diesel is delivered. Let’s say 1000 litres is invoiced, 700 is delivered and 300 litres worth. The funds for that are shared across the delivery person, the security people, procurement people, the management and all that. And that adds up to a lot of money. The estimate is that of the roughly 12 to 13 billion that Nigeria spends (that is dollars) that Nigerians spend every year on diesel to fuel their generators, about four to five billion of that is over invoiced money that just disappears. That’s a lot of money. So if you’re in a government position, private sector, and you’re significantly padding your salary with that income, you will do everything you can to make sure our power sector never works. So, I think that’s actually the biggest issue. And until people are ready to say, Okay, enough is enough. Because there’s no reason you can’t have a functioning power sector. A grid electricity, this is a 150-year-old technology is not rocket science. And Nigeria has too many incredibly smart, well-trained engineers, for it not to work. Unless there’s an incentive for it not to work.

Some would say such events, like we are attending are classic talk shops and that what is needed is action. What do you say?

I totally agree with you. The panel I was on yesterday, that was actually how I closed. I said, first, the focus has to be on the entrepreneurs who are making stuff happen, because those are the ones actually doing, the rest of us are all talking. And if we’re not enabling, and equipping and funding them to deliver, then all of these things don’t work. Now, at the same time, these kinds of forums, especially now that we’ve all been kind of split up and separated for two years due to the covid pandemic. I think this particular one is very useful because of all the connections and reconnections that were made here. But I think it’s very easy in a sector like this to spend every week somewhere at a conference, and not actually get anything done. And something as an investor that I always look at when I’m looking at, to invest in somebody, is if I see them on one trip or the other all over the world, on one panel or the other, some will look at it and say, Oh, wow, there’s a high profile person, let’s invest in them. But for me, it’s like, how are they spending when I invest in them? When are they going to have time to run the business if they’re chasing panels all over the world? Because you don’t get paid for that. It doesn’t bring income, it’s just self-promotion. So, I think a few conferences like this are useful, but I think too many and it becomes a problem.

Your organisation has been doing some incredible work, as revealed to you in two sessions. Could you elaborate on the projects you’ve been working on?

So, we are investors in companies not projects. So we’ve done and we’ve invested in about 50 companies and 40 to 43 of those companies are fully Nigerian companies, the rest are international companies that have come to Nigeria to operate. And what I’m particularly proud about is the fact that the vast majority of our investment portfolio is local, homegrown, and we are investing in local homegrown entrepreneurs who are finding homegrown solutions to Nigeria’s power problem. And I think that actually is what makes our portfolio so impactful, and so powerful. And across that portfolio, there’s so many stars that are building mini grids, in very difficult places that have now running mini grids and have turned rural communities all over Nigeria, into places that have more reliable power than the cities, and people from cities are moving to these mini grid places. So, that work is really difficult. And you know, as an investor, what’s my role? Put money there and then when it’s commissioned, I go there and snap some photos (you know what I mean) but these guys are out there doing the work to get to mobilise the community to get them on board to sign the agreements, to get the regulatory approval, to fight with customs when the goods come in, to work on the logistics to get it to these remote communities to build it. It’s incredibly difficult work. And I think it’s very easy for us to forget everything that happens to make it work, and then to keep it operating. So all of the mini grid companies are amazing. We have solar home system companies as well. These are the kinds of mass market product. And we have a few international companies that we’ve invested in but also some local players like Salpha Energy, and the CEO is Sandra Dozie; and she is from an entrepreneurial family. And so she’s basically figured out how to leverage traditional Igbo trading networks, to get solar home systems into corners of Nigeria that all the international companies don’t understand. And again, it’s that local know how that she has been able to use to get the products into places that others thought it could never get to, in a relatively short time. And you know, there’s Chuks Umezulora from Auxano Solar, who started as a solar panel salesman in Alaba market, then said, Oh, that there’s a market here, let me become a solar installer. So became a solar installation company, and then went even further to backward integrate, and then said, Oh, let me I could actually make a good margin on importing parts, and components, and then actually manufacturing the solar panels here. And he has been doing that for about five years as the only fully operational solar panel manufacturer in Nigeria, (I think actually West Africa, but let me just say, Nigeria, for sure) and then in two months, he will commission 100 megawatts per year capacity solar panel plant in Ibeju-Lekki at the Free Trade Zone in Lagos State, which as I told you earlier, there’s only 200 megawatts of solar in Nigeria now. So that’s half the entire install capacity per year. So, that will basically mean any solar company in Nigeria, you no longer need to go to China, you can just go to Auxano. And that completely, changes the game, in terms of foreign exchange issues, customs issues. So he basically deals with that and then you as the entrepreneur can focus on getting stuff done, rather than fighting with other distractions. So, those are just some of the stories and there are many more stories like I have highlighted.

What is your take on what you have seen so far during the just concluded SEForAll Forum and what you think is the way for?

I mean, what have I seen is that it is the typical thing. This is sort of a booming sector now in the donor and development, finance spaces and a growing number of impact investors and so on. But I think there’s almost too much ecosystem and too little action. And so, I think we need to think about; how many people that come to conferences like this are actually or rather how far removed are they from actually lighting up communities etc? And so, I think people have to take a good hard look and say, how many intermediaries are really needed? How many layers are needed? I am sure you know what I’m talking about. So, I think, then again, we need to really focus on the entrepreneurs. Because what is interesting is that at a conference like this, there are no beneficiaries. I don’t think there’s a single person here that was invited to speak who is from a mini grid community like a community leader from a mini grid community or a woman who is powering her shop on a solar home system. has come to talk about the product and how it changed them. So it’s like we speak for them, but we don’t actually include them in the conversation interesting. And especially considering in Rwanda, there are tens of thousands of people using solar home systems and we could have brought them and we could and we should have actually done a plenary panel with five customers to talk about the interest. So maybe you have to do that on your own.

What do you think are the major challenges facing renewable and sustainable energy players on the African continent? And proffer one or two solutions,

I think regulation, also fragmented markets. And then probably the wrong kind of funding at the wrong time. There is a lot of funding, but it is not quite the right funding for the right time. So the solutions, I think, we need to figure out how to learn how to leverage scale. And we’re doing that with the programme we’re doing with Rockefeller called DART. It’s basically this; we’re aggregating the procurement of solar equipment. So that each individual company isn’t paying these premiums, because they’re ordering so little. But that’s just the first step. And that’s just to Nigeria, it has to be done almost Africa wide. So that’s one solution which is leveraging the African Free Trade Agreements, see how we can do that. The second was actually to really ramp up manufacturing of all of these products on the continent. So, Auxano is already doing panels, but it’s only 100 megawatts and there is a lot more capacity, they need a lot more capacity. And I don’t think there is even any factory like that in East Africa. Probably there are in South Africa and North Africa. I don’t know. But again, obviously, we need to work on that. Can we assemble battery systems here? Yes. Can we assemble solar home system kits? Yes, we can. And I think we just need to make that happen, and almost make it like a continental strategy; Nigeria, with Auxano already there, you guys focus on solar panels. Ghana, that’s where we will assemble the batteries (something in that mold. Some kind of concerted effort.) Because right now, I think the issue is that 90% of the funding that goes into solar into Africa goes to China. And so we need to turn that around. So I think that we we need scale. We need a kind of common regulation across markets. We need African Free Trade Agreement to create that sort of sameness. And then we also need to do same with regards continent manufacturing.