Elektron Energy

The company began as an energy trading outfit before pivoting to project development, accumulating a team whose combined experience exceeds 200 years across engineering, project finance, and regulatory affairs. Founder and CEO Tola Onilede started his career at Merrill Lynch before serving as a VP in Structured Products at JP Morgan and Credit Suisse; prior to founding Elektron, he consulted for Vitol SA and originated more than $2 billion in West African transactions. Co-CEO Deen Solebo brings a decade-plus of investment banking from Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, Rothschild, and West LB AG, alongside executive experience at Oando Plc.

Elektron organizes its project pipeline across three verticals: thermal power, renewables, and transitional gas infrastructure. Its lead asset is Victoria Island Power Limited (VIPL), a 30-MW gas-fired embedded generation plant on Victoria Island, Lagos, structured as Nigeria's first private sector-led embedded power distribution scheme. The $51 million project will supply electricity to one of Lagos's densest commercial districts, replacing more than 3,000 diesel generators and connecting to Eko Electricity Distribution Plc's grid via a dedicated 5-kilometer distribution line. Wärtsilä of Finland signed the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract together with an operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement in Q4 2024; three 10-MW reciprocating gas engines form the generation core, with commercial operations targeted for 2026.

To finance VIPL, Elektron Finance SPV Plc launched a ₦200 billion bond issuance programme in 2025 and closed a ₦4.64 billion Series 1 Senior Guaranteed 15-year fixed-rate infrastructure bond. Institutional investors include ARM Harith Infrastructure Fund LP, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, InfraCredit, Bank of Industry, FBNQuest, and Stanbic Infrastructure Partners.

In April 2026, Elektron and Odu'a Investment Company Limited sealed a $40 million agreement to develop a 50-MW gas-fired independent power plant (IPP) at the former Cocoa Industries Limited complex in the Ogba Industrial Estate, Ikeja, Lagos. Under the deal, Elektron leads all technical, commercial, and regulatory workstreams while Odu'a provides long-term capital and its regional investment platform; primary off-takers will be industrial and commercial users in the Ogba cluster.

A signatory to the UN Global Compact, Elektron targets long-term contracted off-takes backed by creditworthy counterparties, and its development pipeline spans power generation, distributed renewables, and gas transitional assets across the West African region.