Lagos solar operators eye FX earnings from clean energy

Solar energy operators in Lagos may earn additional revenue from international buyers following the accreditation of a Nigerian company, EF Market Solutions Nigeria Limited, to issue globally recognised renewable energy certificates.

The company, in a statement made available to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, said it had been approved by the Netherlands-based I-TRACK Foundation as an accredited issuer of International Renewable Energy Certificates for Lagos State, replacing a United Kingdom-based company that previously handled issuance in Nigeria.

The accreditation, announced on Thursday, is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s participation in the international renewable energy certificate market and retain more of the expertise and oversight associated with the business locally.

Speaking on the development, the Chief Executive Officer of EF Market Solutions, Ibukun Adebayo, said the accreditation would strengthen the institutional framework required to develop a transparent electricity market in Lagos.

“Lagos State is building the institutional infrastructure for a modern, transparent electricity market, being accredited as the I-REC(E) issuer is a foundational part of that work,” Adebayo said.

He added that the certificates verifying renewable electricity generated in Lagos would now be issued by a Nigerian company under the supervision of local regulators.

The Executive Director of the I-TRACK Foundation, Jard Braslawsky, described the approval as an important development for the expansion of the international certificate system.

“The availability of local issuers plays an important role in supporting market participants and strengthening the infrastructure needed to track and substantiate renewable electricity consumption,” he said.

According to the statement, the certificates will be issued through the Lagos Carbon Initiative, an environmental market infrastructure and climate finance platform being developed in partnership with the Lagos State Government, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, and IBILE Holdings Limited, the state’s investment arm.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reportedly announced the initiative at the Lagos Climate Summit in November 2025 as part of efforts to strengthen the state’s climate finance infrastructure and attract investment into environmental projects.

The Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources also endorsed EFMS’s appointment through a letter of no objection to the I-TRACK Foundation, the statement added.

The company said the initial phase of the Lagos Carbon Initiative would focus on solar energy projects before expanding to other renewable energy sources.

Solar project owners in Lagos will be able to register their facilities for verification of their renewable energy sources, electricity metering, and other requirements under the international standard.

For Lagos, where electricity supply remains a major infrastructure challenge, the initiative could create an additional financing channel for clean energy projects while connecting local renewable energy producers to the international market.

This could enable owners of eligible solar installations on factories, hospitals, offices, and other facilities to generate additional income by selling certificates representing verified renewable electricity production to companies seeking to meet their clean energy commitments, it added.

Each I-REC(E) represents one megawatt-hour of verified renewable electricity generation.

The certificates allow companies to substantiate claims about their use of renewable electricity and account for associated indirect greenhouse gas emissions under international reporting standards.

Under the arrangement, owners of eligible renewable energy facilities can register their installations, undergo verification, and receive certificates corresponding to the electricity generated.

The certificates can subsequently be sold to interested buyers through the international market.

Although the commercial value of the certificates will depend on the number of eligible projects registered, verification requirements, demand from international buyers, and the prices negotiated, the additional revenue could improve the financial viability of solar projects.

This is particularly significant in Lagos, where businesses and households spend heavily on petrol and diesel generators to supplement inadequate electricity supply from the national grid.

The Lagos State Government has projected that the state requires between $14bn and $33bn in investment to meet its electricity generation needs by 2030.

Figures disclosed by the state’s General Manager of the Electricity Board, Kamaldeen Balogun, indicated that Lagos receives about 1,000 megawatts of electricity from the national grid against an estimated requirement of 9,000MW, highlighting the scale of the investment opportunity in alternative power generation.

According to figures cited by the company, Nigeria recorded 522 renewable energy certificate issuances between 2020 and September 2026, with activity increasing from 27 in 2024 to 218 in 2025 and 236 in the first nine months of 2026.

The global market recorded approximately 270 million certificate issuances in 2024 and 346 million in 2025, reflecting growing demand for internationally recognised evidence of renewable electricity generation.