Solar Mini-Grid Site Selection with Geospatial Data: A DARES-Era Playbook

More than 85 million Nigerians lacked access to electricity as of 2021, according to the World Bank. Its $750 million DARES (Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up) programme aims to provide new or improved access for about 17.5 million people through solar mini-grids and stand-alone systems.

Why siting makes or breaks a mini-grid A mini-grid's economics depend on how many customers connect, how much power they use and how much it costs to build. Poor siting leads to under-used systems and stranded investment.

The geospatial toolkit - Building footprints to count potential connections and their density. - Night-time lights to identify unelectrified settlements and economic activity. - Solar irradiance for generation estimates. - Distance to the grid to avoid sites the grid will soon reach. - Productive-use signals: markets, mills, clinics and farms that anchor demand. - Access and terrain for construction and maintenance costs.

A simple scoring workflow 1. Screen all settlements in a state. 2. Score them on demand, cost and risk. 3. Field-validate the top candidates. 4. Forecast load for system sizing. 5. Package bankable site reports for financiers.

Beyond siting The same data supports tariff design, productive-use programmes and impact reporting.

StrikeClimate builds site-selection and demand-forecasting pipelines for mini-grid developers and investors.