The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $5.65 million reimbursable grant from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) to finance renewable energy projects in 14 African countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
Co-financed with an equivalent $5.65 million from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), the $11.3 million Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) Aggregation Facility will be managed by Camco Clean Energy, a climate and impact fund manager, and Energy Peace Partners (EPP).
It has been designed to channel corporate sustainability spending into meaningful impact by converting renewable energy certificates from small-scale mini-grid projects into upfront cash for developers.
The project will provide around 856,000 people with first-time access to reliable electricity, through around 240,000 new connections and 71 MW of new renewable energy capacity. It also aligns with Mission 300, the joint African Development Bank and World Bank initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
Rural electrification
“Lack of access to capital for rural electrification continues to be a major hurdle for universal energy access in the African continent, particularly in countries experiencing conflicts and fragility,” commented João Duarte Cunha, manager, Renewable Energy Funds Division and Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, African Development Bank Group.
“I am proud that SEFA is backing this innovative, first-of-a-kind facility testing a new climate finance product capable of unlocking new sources of commercial funding for private sector led mini-grids. This is the kind of market-making needed to advance Mission 300 objectives.”
Climate leadership
Satu Santala, managing director of NDF, added that the project “strengthens the role”of Nordic climate leadership, while also advancing “sustainable energy solutions where they are needed most”.
Elsewhere, Sherwin Das, managing director of EPP, added that the majority of people in Africa without access to electricity live in ‘fragile and conflict-affected countries where renewable energy projects can have outsize impacts – improving health, education, safety and security outcomes.” Read more here and here.
