When the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) programme entered its second phase in Nigeria in March 2026, it marked a decisive pivot from policy design to delivery. The stakes could not be higher: Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation, is racing to meet its ambitious Energy Transition Plan (ETP) while grappling with entrenched challenges in its power sector. UK PACT’s Phase 2 strategy is designed to move beyond isolated interventions, aiming instead for systemic change at scale, where policy, finance, and implementation converge to deliver tangible outcomes.

For emphasis, the UK PACT is a UK-funded technical assistance programme supporting Nigeria’s energy transition and climate goals. Phase 2 shifts from policy design to delivery, focusing on making renewable energy projects investment-ready and scalable.

From Policy to Delivery: A New Mandate
PHASE 1 of UK PACT in Nigeria focused heavily on policy frameworks and institutional capacity. While this laid important groundwork, the lesson was clear: technical assistance must be tied to real delivery pathways. Phase 2, is therefore prioritising support for Nigeria’s energy transition and green growth with a sharper focus on downstream delivery and investment readiness.

Speaking with The Guardian, Senior UK PACT Officer, British High Commission, Nigeria, Folakemi Aletan, observed that the programme is enabling a more competitive and investment-ready renewable energy market by demonstrating how decentralised renewable energy (DRE) systems and other clean technologies can integrate into existing power systems.

Aletan said it is also developing viable financial models to mobilise capital for clean energy development. Special attention is being paid to underserved areas, with community-based approaches designed to ensure inclusivity and sustainability.

Creating bankable outcomes
ONE of the most pressing questions for any technical assistance programme is how to ensure outputs translate into real-world impact. UK PACT is tackling this head-on by embedding early engagement with financiers, operators, and off-takers.

Aletan said the goal is to align technical work with market realities, ensuring that outputs are not just academic reports but practical tools, templates, guidelines, and investment-ready documentation.

A striking example comes from UK PACT-funded support to Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA). She said working with the UKNIAF team, the programme helped operationalise previously stalled renewable energy assets under the Korea Energy Project. By developing sustainable commercial models for operations and maintenance, and frameworks for engaging private operators, mini-grid sites in Rubochi (900kW) and Ikwa (100kW) are now fully operational.

“The Rubochi mini-grid alone serves approximately 4,000 households, making it one of the largest community-based solar mini-grids in the Federal Capital Territory. This is the kind of concrete, bankable outcome UK PACT aims to replicate across Nigeria,” she stated.

Role of Green Finance and Investment Facility
BEYOND technical assistance, financing remained the critical bottleneck for renewable energy projects. Recognising this, Phase 2 has funded the design of the Green Finance and Investment Facility (GFIF) designed by Barton Heyman Limited working with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). Designed as a catalytic platform, GFIF bridges the gap between project development and access to finance. It combines results-based financing, senior concessional debt, co-lending, and equity co-investment into a single coordinated instrument specifically for Nigeria’s distributed renewable energy sector.

Through GFIF, UK PACT is helping partners strengthen project pipelines and develop investment-ready opportunities that can attract both public and private capital. The Senior UK PACT Officer, British High Commission, said the facility is also supporting access to international climate finance mechanisms, including multilateral climate funds and development finance institutions, by ensuring projects meet global investment standards.

According to her, by structuring opportunities for blended finance, combining concessional funding with private investment, UK PACT is improving risk-return profiles and making projects more attractive to investors. The ultimate aim is to create a strong pipeline of bankable projects that will continue to attract climate and clean energy investments long after UK PACT’s direct involvement ends.

Aligning with Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan
ALIGNMENT with Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan (ETP), alongside other key policies such as the Climate Change Act and NDC 3.0, is central to UK PACT’s approach. All projects are assessed against the UK’s International Climate Finance Transformational Change criteria, mitigation potential, and contributions to Gender, Equality, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI). This ensures that interventions are not only technically sound but also socially inclusive and strategically aligned.

On this, Aletan submitted that the programme is informed by demand, working in close partnership with key government stakeholders including the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), the office of the Minister of State for Health, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Federal Ministry of Power, REA, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

She noted that this country-led approach ensures relevance, ownership, and long-term impact, while also advancing UK international climate objectives such as mobilising green finance and building strong international partnerships.

Navigating Nigeria’s Complex Power Sector
NIGERIA’s electricity market presents both opportunity and challenge. The country has abundant underutilised hydro resources and growing demand for reliable power, yet implementation of small hydropower (SHP) and community energy solutions is frequently stalled by fragmentation across technical, commercial, regulatory, and institutional interfaces. Many SHP projects fail not because of weak technology, but because the commercial and governance architecture around them is underdeveloped.

On this, the UK PACT’s approach is to treat hydropower not just as an engineering project but as a market solution. At a recent UK PACT-supported Commercial Pathway workshop on the Ikere Gorge hydropower project, a breakthrough was achieved by aligning early with the regulator (NERC), the distribution company (IBEDC), and the project developer (Quaint Energy).

Aletan said this shifted the focus from whether the project could generate power to how to structure a commercially viable and bankable model that works for all parties.

Explaining, she said by creating this early “governance bridge,” projects like Ikere Gorge—dormant for over four decades, can move forward with greater clarity, reduced risk, and stronger investor confidence.

This model provides a replicable pathway for unlocking small hydropower and community energy projects across Nigeria, particularly in underserved areas where reliable and affordable power is most needed.

Strengthening Nigeria’s Global Climate Voice BEYOND domestic energy projects, UK PACT is also strengthening Nigeria’s international negotiating capacity. By enhancing technical, analytical, and institutional capabilities, the programme is enabling Nigeria to more confidently advocate for and secure finance and partnerships in global climate negotiations. This includes delivering an economy-wide Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system required to implement a carbon budget and operationalise a carbon market framework. Such systemic interventions position Nigeria not just as a recipient of climate finance but as a credible leader in low-carbon development.

Unlocking Dormant Dams: AP3’s Small Hydropower Programme
A MAJOR strand of Phase 2 delivery is the UK PACT Nigeria Small Hydropower Programme, led by AP3 Advisory Services.

Speaking with The Guardian, Director, UK PACT Nigeria Small Hydropower Programme, AP3 Advisory Services, Dr Gori Olusina Daniel, said rather than financing or building plants directly, AP3 prepares dormant public dams for investment through feasibility studies, dam safety audits, environmental and social assessments, and commercial structuring.

Daniel informed that in its first year, AP3 advanced three pilot sites—Ghari Dam (Kano), NESCO Cascade (Plateau), and Ikere Gorge (Oyo)—from concept to investment-grade preparation, representing about 60 MW of hydropower capacity, rising to 140 MW with planned solar hybridisation.

He said at Ghari Dam, studies recommend a 1.6 MW hydropower unit with 2 MW solar, linked to an industrial anchor load. He added that at NESCO Cascade, feasibility supports rehabilitating up to 28 MW with a 10 MW solar hybrid, while Ikere Gorge targets a 100 MW hydro-solar hybrid.

According to him, by reconciling five datasets into a single national hydropower inventory, AP3 identified 79 preparation sites and 61 near-term build sites totaling about 62 MW, scalable to over 200 MW.

He disclosed that climate benefits are significant, stressing that the three pilots alone could avoid 170,000–280,000 tonnes of CO₂ yearly, largely by displacing costly diesel generation.

Daniel added that financing models are equally innovative, blending grants, subsidies, and credit-enhancement structures to counter Nigeria’s high local lending rates.

“This work is anchored in Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan and Electricity Act 2023, with AP3 assisting in drafting the country’s first National Small Hydropower Policy and toolkits for developers and financiers. The programme demonstrates how structured preparation and blended financing can unlock Nigeria’s estimated 3,500 MW of underutilised hydropower potential,” he stated.

Decentralised Solutions: RMI’s Renewable Embedded Generation Model
WHILE AP3 focuses on hydropower, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), another implementing partner, advanced distributed renewable energy through the Renewable Embedded Generation (REG) programme. This is done by enabling solar and battery storage projects to connect directly to distribution networks, REG strengthens reliability while cutting emissions.

RMI Executive, Suleiman Babamanu, explained that RMI has worked with distribution companies across multiple states to create standardized tools for project selection, feasibility studies, financial modeling, procurement, and power purchase agreements. Embedding these processes within utility teams builds institutional capacity for replication nationwide.

According to him, recent feasibility studies identified four REG opportunities totaling 53 MW of solar, 55 MWh of battery storage, and £36 million in potential investment, with IBEDC and PHED already shortlisting developers for commercial engagement. He said the REG model offers a “win-win-win”: customers gain reliable and potentially cheaper power, utilities improve service delivery, and private developers access viable demand for renewable investments.

“Community engagement is central, with RMI integrating customer demand assessments, regulatory collaboration, and Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) considerations into project design. This ensures clean energy solutions are not only commercially viable but also inclusive and responsive to Nigerian communities,” he stated.

Together, AP3’s hydropower pipeline and RMI’s embedded generation model illustrated how UK PACT Phase 2 is moving beyond policy into delivery. They are proof points of a broader strategy: unlocking dormant assets, embedding replicable models, and mobilising finance at scale.

Toward Systemic Change at Scale
ULTIMATELY, Phase 2 of Nigeria–UK PACT is designed to move beyond isolated interventions toward systemic change at scale. By aligning policy, finance, and implementation, the programme is supporting Nigeria to translate its ambitious climate and energy transition commitments into tangible outcomes.

According to Aletan, the vision is clear: sustainable energy access, green growth, and a stronger position for Nigeria as a leader in low-carbon development.

As Nigeria charts its path toward a low-carbon future, UK PACT’s Phase 2 is more than a programme, it is a bridge. A bridge between policy and practice, between concept and investment, and between Nigeria’s domestic ambitions and its global climate leadership. If successful, it will leave behind not just projects, but systems, systems capable of delivering sustainable energy access and driving green growth for decades to come.