A 17-year blackout has ended in Tallasse and the entire Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State as the federal government has commissioned a solar mini-grid in the area.
The federal government, through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in partnership with the Gombe State government and a private developer, commissioned a 1MW solar mini-grid with a 2.4MWh battery energy storage system in Tallasse.
The government also flagged off the construction of a 16MW network of four interconnected solar mini-grids across Dukku, Bajoga, Kumo and Kaltungo communities to extend electricity to homes, farms, markets and small businesses in the state.
This is contained in a statement on Sunday signed by Adeola Labzy, Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe.
According to the statement, the Tallasse project already serves 6,028 connections and is equipped with productive-use facilities including electric groundnut oil processing, rice milling and flour grinding machines, as well as electric tricycles.
Speaking at the commissioning, Mr Tegbe said the projects are a practical expression of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, with renewable power spreading across the country from Adamawa to Lagos, Oyo, Plateau, Kano, Kwara and Gombe states.
He said the commissioning opens a new chapter for the people of Tallasse after 17 years without electricity.
“The true significance of these investments will be measured in the daily lives they improve: the farmer who can process produce closer to home, the trader who can preserve perishable goods, the artisan who can power equipment, and the young person who can build a livelihood within the community.
“As the projects become operational, they can strengthen public services, reduce dependence on costly self-generation and attract enterprise,” Mr Tegbe said.
The minister said the responsibility of the ministry, working with the Gombe State Government, developers and host communities, is to translate the infrastructure into dependable service, productive activity and lasting local prosperity.
He urged residents to protect the facilities against vandalism.
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In his remarks, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya described the projects as the product of close collaboration between Gombe State and the Federal Government through the REA.
Mr Yahaya said that in an agricultural community like Balanga, which had been without electricity for 17 years, pairing reliable power with rice milling, groundnut processing, flour production and electric mobility strengthens the entire local economy, not just household lighting.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the REA, Abba Aliyu, said the programme is shifting its focus from counting connections and megawatts to measuring economic outcomes.
Mr Aliyu noted that access without reliability limits impact, which is why the projects combine battery storage, intelligent monitoring, productive-use equipment and sustainable operating models, with the aim of building electricity ecosystems rather than simply installing power plants.
According to the statement, the projects are being delivered under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme, as the federal government pursues multiple solutions at once: strengthening the national grid while accelerating mini-grids, embedded generation, solar home systems and dedicated power for universities, markets and agricultural clusters.
