Know better. Do better.

In his salon in Lagos, hairdresser Stephen Ugbo is having a tough time making ends meet. A year ago, a longstanding subsidy on refined oil was removed and the price of petrol tripled.  

Ten thousand naira ($7) worth of fuel for Ugbo’s generator would usually last him a week but is now gone in just a few days. It’s eating up a quarter of his income in the process.  

So what about switching to solar? Ugbo sighs. "It's expensive for me, you know that."  

My colleague Bukola Adebayo and filmmaker Meghan McDonough released a new mini-documentary this week on the women driving Nigeria's solar industry.  

Some are hoping that a solar boom in the country can convince business owners like Ugbo to move to clean energy, and provide energy access when the grid collapses - which it did 46 times between 2017 and 2023.  

It could also boost employment for women.

Sandra Chukwudozie runs Salpha Energy, one of the few renewable energy companies in Nigeria headed by a female CEO. It has a female workforce of 35%, compared to the global average in the energy sector of 16%.  

She says people understand the problems with noisy petrol generators, but the costs are stopping them finding alternatives.  

"It emits fumes, it smells, and it's bad for the environment. They get that," Chukwudozie said.

For households struggling to afford the basics each month, the installation costs of solar power are a long way out of reach.  

Fortunately, money has been flowing in from the World Bank, philanthropic organisations and private companies to subsidise the consumer costs of solar.  

Salpha Energy has been able to make its solar home systems more affordable due to funding from donors like the Rockefeller Foundation. And the company says it has seen a big increase in sales since the petrol subsidy removal.  

But there is a long way to go. Solar deployment has tripled in Nigeria since 2016, yet still only accounts for less than 3% of the total energy mix.  

Many would be happy to see the back of polluting and planet-heating generators. The question is: can solar power develop quickly enough to take their place?  

See you next week,  

Jack