Outlook bright as solar energy keeps Nigerian homeworkers powered up

(Reuters, 20 May 2020) At least a dozen solar energy companies are competing to help fill Nigeria's power gap - and COVID-19 has made the need for their services more acute.

In a hallway in Lagos, Gbemisola Olowokere taps contentedly on her laptop. The 23-year-old says the corner, underneath a sliver of window, has functioned well as a makeshift office since the coronavirus pandemic forced her to work from home.

But things didn't start well.

"I had major problems," Olowokere told Reuters. "I have deadlines and things I need to submit ... and I couldn't, because I didn't have power."

Nigeria's notoriously sclerotic power infrastructure means fuel-powered generators provide at least four times as much electricity as the grid.

Most locals have generators, but few run them through the day due to cost, noise and - a growing health risk since the respiratory disease started spreading - choking smoke.

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Reuters, 20 May 2020: Outlook bright as solar energy keeps Nigerian homeworkers powered up