MOPO Signs Agreement with Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency to Fast-Track Battery Rental Expansion
Chris Longbottom, CEO of MOPO and Abba Aliyu, MD and CEO of Rural Electrification Agency (REA) signing the MoU.
Overview
MOPO, a UK-based technology company pioneering sustainable energy access, is delighted to announce plans to invest $75 million in Nigeria by 2030.
We're partnering with Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency (REA) on a new Smart Battery Rental Programme, with a pilot launching by the end of this year.
MOPO, one of Africa's leading clean energy companies, has today signed an agreement with Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to accelerate the rollout of its solar-powered battery rental network across the country, as part of plans to invest up to $75 million in Nigeria by 2030. The partnership brings together a set of joined-up activities, backed by data and convening, culminating in a new Nigeria Smart Battery Rental Programme. Government backing is helping fast-track a pilot phase targeted for December 2026, delivering a blueprint for a new way to scale energy access to those living with no or unreliable access to electricity.
MOPO's energy-as-a-service model gives low-income customers flexible, affordable access to power, renting portable batteries from community-based solar hubs rather than requiring customers to buy solar equipment outright or via loans. Batteries range from entry-level units for lighting and phone charging to larger batteries that can power virtually all household and business appliances. MOPO is poised to release a new set of battery and energy solutions in the near future.
"At the Rural Electrification Agency, we recognise that achieving universal energy access demands innovation that is affordable and scalable and that aligns with the President's ‘Nigeria First’ Agenda. Through the Smart Battery Rental Programme, we are creating an enabling environment where investment delivers both electricity access and economic opportunity, accelerating Nigeria's energy transition portfolio into a competitive clean energy hub for Africa." Abba Abubakar Aliyu, MD and CEO, Rural Electrification Agency
MOPO is already expanding fast in Nigeria, managing a fleet of over 320 solar battery hubs and opening a new hub every day in Nigeria alone. The Nigerian government is looking to help speed up that growth through the new programme, making it easier for MOPO to reach more communities and tackle the affordability barriers that keep millions of Nigerian households and businesses off reliable power.
Under the memorandum of understanding, MOPO and REA will jointly design the Smart Battery Rental Programme, with a working group meeting fortnightly to drive it toward launch. REA will support the regulatory framework for battery rental as an energy access tool, help connect the programme with government authorities and prospective financiers, and work to structure the pilot within its results-based finance schemes, while MOPO leads programme design, installs the hubs, manages the agent-based delivery model, and mobilises the working capital to roll out hubs across the country. The December 2026 pilot marks the first milestone with plans to scale up once that pilot has successfully concluded.
Nigeria has the largest energy access gap in the world, with more than 85 million people lacking access to electricity and tens of millions more contending with unreliable supply. The Smart Battery Rental Programme is designed to complement the Federal Government's wider electrification efforts, including its commitments under Mission 300, the World Bank and African Development Bank initiative that aims to connect 300 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.
"Today, MOPO delivers 1.6 million battery rentals a month, up from 150,000 in 2023. What makes MOPO unique is our ability to enter a community and immediately start putting energy in people's hands with no up front costs and hyper-affordable daily rentals.” Chris Longbottom, CEO, MOPO. "REA's approach to energy access is genuinely forward-thinking, backing a wide range of tools, including battery rental, to reach Nigerians who need power. That's the enlightened, all-hands-on-deck thinking this sector needs, and it means MOPO can move even faster."
The agreement comes during a period of rapid growth for MOPO across the continent. The company operates in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and has delivered more than 42 million battery rentals to date, over half of them in the last 18 months alone. MOPO maintains 300 employees, spanning data science, engineering and beyond, and 2,000 agents, who rent batteries in their own communities, 99% in Africa and 45% in Nigeria.