26 May 2022: The government of Ghana has signed a grant agreement with the African Development Fund, and a financing agreement with the government of Switzerland, for the Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering project. The project will benefit schools, health centres and communities across the country.

The agreements, for the development of 35 mini-grids and stand-alone solar PV systems, were signed on Wednesday 25 May at a short ceremony held on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings. They were signed by Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, chairman of the board of governors of the African Development Bank Group, Ambassador Dominique Paravicini, the African Development Bank Group’s governor for Switzerland and Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, president of the African Development Bank.

The post Covid-19 era has highlighted the importance of reliable energy services. The project will support Ghana’s Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) program, which identifies the energy sector as an enabler of economic transformation.

Minister Ofori-Atta said the agreement demonstrated his government’s commitment to enhance the economic and social viability of low carbon investments and achieving energy efficiency. Ghana’s electricity access rate is currently at 87.13% the minister revealed. The last mile was often the most expensive and difficult, he noted.

Today’s event not only marks the first stage but marks an important milestone for providing climate conscious development across the country,” Ofori-Atta said. “It is truly important and significant for us as we move toward net zero.”

Ambassador Paravicini said: “We are pleased to have reached another milestone in our cooperation with this wonderful country. We hope that, together, this project will bring sustainable and affordable electricity to over 6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and almost 5,000 households, besides 1,100 public buildings.”

Dr. Adesina said: “The Bank supports Ghana’s efforts in building resilience to the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing electricity to health care centers, schools and island communities, currently without access to electricity services, thus enabling refrigeration of vaccines and testing facilities in these communities “.

The government of Switzerland financing will specifically support the scale up of the existing Ghana net metering program and deploy up to 12,000 units of roof-mounted net-metered solar PV systems for Small and medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and households. Solar cells, also called photovoltaic (PV) cells, convert sunlight directly into electricity.

The systems will power 750 small medium-sized enterprises, 400 schools, 200 health centers and the energy service systems in 100 communities in the Volta Lake region and Northern region of Ghana. The Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering project is expected to have an annual electricity output of renewable energy estimated at 111,361MWh, corresponding to an installed capacity of 67.5MW. The project will mitigate greenhouse emissions of 0.7795 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year and create up to 2,865 jobs during construction, of which 30% will target women and youth

The overall project cost is estimated at $85.88 million comprising the mini grid component – $40.29million, and a $44.89 million net metering component. It will be financed through $27.39 million from the African Development Fund; Ghana government counterpart funding of $16million; and $14 million from the Swiss government. In addition, the African Development Bank Group as an implementing entity of the Climate Investment Funds, leveraged concessional financing of $28.49 million.

The African Development Bank Group’s annual meetings are taking place in Accra, Ghana, under the theme: Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa.

• Spark+ Africa Fund is a pioneering impact fund investing in access to clean and modern energy solutions for cooking in frontier markets in Africa;
• BURN Manufacturing is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high–quality, life–improving cooking solutions for the mass market in sub–Saharan Africa.

1 June 2022: Enabling Qapital (“EQ”) and Stichting Modern Cooking (“SMC”) are pleased to announce the initial investment of Spark+ Africa Fund (“Spark+” or the “Fund”).

Spark+, which had its first closing in March, has invested USD 4 million via a long–term quasi–equity instrument in BURN Manufacturing (“BURN”), a Kenyan manufacturing company that specializes in the design and manufacture of biomass, electric, and LPG cookstoves that save consumers time and money, improve health, reduce harmful pollution, and limit the use of wood and charcoal.

The Fund’s investment will enable BURN to meaningfully increase the capacity of its industry–leading, industrial–scale manufacturing facility in Nairobi, and finance the expansion of its business in new markets including Somalia, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, and the DRC. The company has ambitious plans to serve 47 Million customers over the next seven years, which will create over 2,000 jobs and offset 72 Million tons of CO2e, the equivalent of 2 million cars on the road each year.

Spark+ was advised by University of Michigan Law School’s International Transactions Clinic (“ITC”) supervised by Carl Valenstein, a Partner at Morgan Lewis Bockius. BURN was advised by Sidley & Austin.

Peter George, Investment Director of Spark+ and Chairman of Stichting Modern Cooking: “This transaction is the result of a long and fruitful relationship with BURN. We’re incredibly pleased how the BURN team has leveraged a $500,000 start–up grant from the Clean Cooking Alliance in 2013 to become a true leader in its space. This investment also illustrates the role Spark+ intends to play in scaling up growth–stage ventures, and we look forward to supporting BURN as it extends its reach across Africa.”

Xavier Pierluca, Investment Director of Spark+ and Managing Partner of EQ: “BURN Manufacturing has demonstrated market–leading innovation capabilities, designing stoves for various fuels and consumer demographics, all while achieving scale in local production of quality products in Africa. We are very excited to engage in a long–term financing relationship with the company to support its growth in new geographies to limit greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation across the Continent.”

Peter Scott, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BURN Manufacturing: “As we embark on the most ambitious growth plans in our company’s history – expanding to new markets across Africa, increasing our production capacities, and launching new product lines – we are grateful to receive this timely investment from Spark+ Africa Fund. This funding will assist us in reaching new heights as the global leader of clean cooking design and manufacturing, and will allow us to continue executing upon our mission of saving lives and forests across the African continent. We are pleased that Spark+ has chosen BURN as their initial investment and we welcome their partnership on our shared journey.”

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About clean cooking solutions: 900 million people in sub–Saharan Africa lack clean and modern energy for cooking. Without the electric stoves and piped natural gas prevalent in developed countries, they are forced to spend an estimated $35 billion annually on unhealthy and polluting open fires, charcoal, and kerosene. According to a 2020 World Bank report, this generates annual social, environmental, and economic costs of more than $330 billion in Africa, while the investment required by the private sector to deliver access to modern alternatives would be only $2.6 billion. Solutions that rely on LPG, ethanol, electricity, biogas, and processed biomass fuels, as well as more efficient biomass stoves, are being commercialized with technology–integrated business models and are enabling underserved consumers to adopt modern energy.

About Spark+ Africa Fund: Spark+ is the first impact investment fund launched by Spark+ General Partner (“GP”), a joint venture between its Switzerland–based investment advisor EQ, and Netherlands–based foundation SMC. Switzerland–based Woodman Asset Management acts as the Fund’s Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM). The Fund’s investors include leading development finance institutions, pension funds, family offices, and foundations. The Fund has a target size of $70 million. The US–based Clean Cooking Alliance (“CCA”), an initiative hosted by the United Nations Foundation, supported the development of Spark+.

About Enabling Qapital: EQ is an investment advisory company with strong ties in the impact investment sector and deep expertise in finance, with its founding partners unique skillsets and 100+ year proven track record. EQ is the exclusive advisor to the Enabling Microfinance Fund and has a global footprint of investment professionals across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America who originate, execute, and monitor investments. EQ is the exclusive investment advisor to Spark+ and a shareholder in the GP.

About Stichting Modern Cooking: SMC is a Netherlands–based foundation governed by a management board which consists of clean cooking sector experts and impact investment professionals. SMC is a shareholder in the GP and the Fund’s TA partner.

About BURN Manufacturing: BURN is the only vertically integrated modern cookstove company in Africa. Its solar–powered manufacturing facility in Nairobi currently has a capacity of over 50,000 stoves per month and employs over 600 people, 60% of whom are women. Since its founding in 2013, BURN’s products have delivered energy access to 7.5 million people across 14 countries in Africa.

About University of Michigan Law School’s International Transactions Clinic: The first of its kind in the United States at its launch in 2008, the ITC aims to be a training ground for highly qualified lawyers who graduate already experienced at representing their clients’ interests in an increasingly globalized and complex world. The BURN transaction team included Teddy Ulin, Yuzhen Zhang, and Saika Suzuki, and was supervised by ITC director David Guenther and Carl Valenstein, a Boston–based Partner in the corporate and business transactions practice at Morgan Lewis Bockius.

2 June 2022: The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) will open a funding round in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the end of June 2022. At the BGFA Steering Committee meeting related to the DRC Country Programme, the Donor (Sweden), gave green light to the launch. This is BGFA’s fourth Call for Proposals (BGFA4) to incentivise clean off-grid energy solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second largest country in Africa, with a widely dispersed population of 94.7 million people. With widespread energy poverty and a national grid that does not reach the majority of the population, there is enormous potential for off-grid solutions for solar home systems, mini-grids and productive-use appliances. The upcoming funding round aims to accelerate the entrance and scale-up of commercially sustainable businesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a focus on reaching underserved communities in the country.

“The market scoping undertaken during spring 2022 confirmed the acute need for energy access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with very limited affordability for off-grid energy solutions in most parts of the country. Therefore, we are happy to announce that we will shortly launch an initial funding round in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to support the market development and scale-up of energy access across solar home systems, mini-grids and productive use of energy,” commented Dennis Hamro-Drotz, Senior Programme Manager at Nefco.

Sweden is supporting the upcoming Call for Proposals, which will total EUR 15 million in financial incentives, as well as the expansion of BGFA to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to support the country in building up a sustainable energy system and increasing the affordability of off-grid solutions.

“The BGFA will be an important part of the increasing Swedish engagement in DRC within environment, climate and sustainable use of natural resources. Access to sustainable energy is key for development and resilience and the BGFA will not only support the development of a sustainable energy sector, but most importantly create opportunities and improve the lives of the Congolese people.”, commented Gustav Isaksson, Program officer Environment, Climate and sustainable use of natural resources at the Swedish embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Call for Proposals, opening on 21 June 2022, invites private sector companies, i.e. energy service providers in the off-grid sector, to apply for the programme through an online application process divided into two stages. Detailed information, selection criteria and guidelines will be made available on the BGFA website beyondthegrid.africa when the funding round opens.

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About BGFA: The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa is a multi-donor facility established and managed by Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank. Nefco is an international financial institution based in Helsinki, Finland, focusing on environmental and climate investments. The BGFA programme is implemented together with its two project implementation partners. BGFA is implemented in partnership with REEEP (the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership), an international multilateral partnership based in Vienna, Austria, working to accelerate market-based deployment of renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions in developing countries.

The current EUR 107.6 million BGFA programme was established in 2019 on Sweden’s initiative through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Sweden contributes SEK 835 million (EUR 80 million) from the Swedish embassies in the target countries. It has since been developed by Nefco into a multi-donor programme. Denmark, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, joined the BGFA programme in December 2020 and is now providing DKK 117.5 million (EUR 15.8 million) to support the programme in Uganda. Power Africa, an initiative administered by USAID, is providing an in-kind technical assistance contribution worth USD 4.5 million (approx. EUR 4 million) over three years to help operationalise the initiative and develop a pipeline of commercially viable projects within the framework of BGFA. Germany, through its development bank KfW, has joined the BGFA country programme for Zambia with a focus on mini-grids, providing EUR 7.5 million.

• Platform to provide low-cost financing for clean energy deployment in Africa;
• ENGIE Energy Access has delivered renewable energy to 7 million people across 9 countries to date.

9 June 2022: ENGIE Energy Access, the leading off-grid, Pay-As-You-Go solar and mini-grid solutions provider in Africa, and Energy Web, the non-profit building operating systems for energy grids, announce the successful launch of Crowdfund for Solar, a platform to harness the potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) to bring solar installations to energy-deficient communities.

The platform will enable access to low-cost finance for the deployment of solar home systems (SHS) for households and communities, initially operating in select low-electrification countries where reliable energy is urgently needed.

Built by Energy Web on behalf of ENGIE and operating using Energy Web’s open-source technology stack, Crowdfund for Solar allows investors to stake Energy Web Tokens (EWT) in exchange for a fixed return. This crowdfunding platform ran for two weeks in a pilot period, with an initial investment target of USD$100,000 or 20,000 EWT. The target was reached within just 7 hours after the official launch, which indicates the success of this pilot and signals immense appetite from the crypto community to support the solution further.

Despite Africa having a high capacity for solar, more than half of Sub-Saharan Africa currently lacks access to electricity and low-cost financing for clean energy solutions, forcing communities to rely on dangerous and dirty energy sources such as kerosene or coal. In some more remote rural areas, customers are often unbanked, and face difficulties acquiring credit.

Through Crowdfund for Solar, ENGIE Energy Access will deploy its high-quality, expandable solar home systems (SHS) to countries in need, such as Rwanda and Zambia, due to their low electrification rates. This will support the health, quality of life and economic prosperity of communities in off-grid and remote regions.

The recipients, which will include schools, households and small businesses, will be provided with SHS under a lease-to-own model, paid for in affordable installments. ENGIE Energy Access aims to prioritize women among the recipients, and to provide at least 30% of the loans to women-led households. Repayments on loans will be used to cover staked EWT, with 10% interest returned to participant investors.

Jesse Morris, Energy Web CEO, said: “Broadening access to clean energy is at the core of Energy Web’s mission. We’re proud to be able to employ the Energy Web technology stack on behalf of ENGIE Energy Access to support electricity access in deficient regions. With Crowdfund for Solar, we’re directing the power of the Energy Web community and DeFi to tackle financing challenges, one of the biggest barriers to renewable energy uptake. Enterprises and households receive a low-cost loan and EWT stakers receive 10% back on their investment – along with the chance to play their part in driving an equitable global energy transition.”

Gillian-Alexandre Huart, ENGIE Energy Access CEO, said: “With Africa’s population predicted to double by 2050, electrifying the continent with clean energy has never been more urgent. This new staking pool will allow multiple stakeholders to combine their computational resources as a way of being rewarded while helping to solve Sub-Saharan Africa’s electrification challenges. It is also a promising, novel and transparent way of applying DeFi to the access-to-energy paradigm. I am excited by this initial pilot period as I am convinced that the platform has extraordinary potential to scale up and support ENGIE Energy Access in providing impactful clean power to millions across Africa.”

The platform will initially be used to provide loans for solar but in future there is broad potential to expand to other energy solutions. Following the one-year loan period, a full report will be provided on the outcome of the financing, including the number of installations, their distribution across different countries, and verification of the demographic target for the loans.

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About Energy Web: Energy Web is a global, member-driven non-profit accelerating the low-carbon, customer-centric energy transition by unleashing the potential of open-source, digital technologies. Our Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) enables any energy asset, owned by any customer, to participate in any energy market. The Energy Web Chain — the world’s first enterprise-grade, public blockchain tailored to the energy sector — anchors the EW-DOS tech stack. The Energy Web ecosystem comprises leading utilities, grid operators, renewable energy developers, corporate energy buyers, IoT / telecom leaders, and others.

About ENGIE Energy Access: ENGIE Energy Access is the leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions provider in Africa. The company develops innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services and businesses, enabling customers and distribution partners access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGo solar home systems are financed through affordable installments from $0.19 per day and the mini-grids foster economic development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural communities. With over 1,700 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), almost 1.5 million customers and 7 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to impact 20 million lives across Africa by 2025.

• IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook 2022 sets out path to bring modern energy access to all Africans this decade while creating new growth industries in critical minerals and green hydrogen.

20 June 2022: Today’s crippling spikes in energy prices underscore the urgency and the benefits for African countries of accelerating the scale up of cheaper and cleaner sources of energy, the IEA says in a new special report released today.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent food, energy and other commodity prices soaring, increasing the strains on African economies already hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The overlapping crises are affecting many parts of Africa’s energy systems, including reversing positive trends in improving access to modern energy, with 25 million more people in Africa living without electricity today compared with before the pandemic, according to the Africa Energy Outlook 2022.

At the same time, Africa is also already facing more severe effects from climate change than most other parts of the world – including massive droughts – despite bearing the least responsibility for the problem. Africa accounts for less than 3% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions to date and has the lowest emissions per capita of any region.

Despite these challenges, the report finds that the global clean energy transition holds new promise for Africa’s economic and social development, with solar, other renewables and emerging areas such as critical minerals and green hydrogen offering strong growth potential if managed well. Increased international ambitions for cutting emissions are helping set a new course for the global energy sector amid declining clean technology costs and shifting global investment patterns. African countries are poised to benefit from these trends and attract increasing flows of climate finance.

“Africa has had the raw end of the deal from the fossil fuel-based economy, receiving the smallest benefits and the biggest drawbacks, as underlined by the current energy crisis,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director. “The new global energy economy that is emerging offers a more hopeful future for Africa, with huge potential for solar and other renewables to power its development – and new industrial opportunities in critical minerals and green hydrogen.”

“The immediate and absolute priority for Africa and the international community is to bring modern and affordable energy to all Africans – and our new report shows this can be achieved by the end of this decade through annual investment of $25 billion, the same amount needed to build just one new LNG terminal a year,” Dr Birol added. “It is morally unacceptable that the ongoing injustice of energy poverty in Africa isn’t being resolved when it is so clearly well within our means to do so.”

The Africa Energy Outlook 2022 explores a Sustainable Africa Scenario in which all African energy-related development goals are achieved on time and in full. This includes universal access to modern energy services by 2030 and the full implementation of all African climate pledges.

With demand for energy services in Africa set to grow rapidly, ensuring affordability is an urgent priority. Increased energy efficiency is essential for this, since it reduces fuel imports, eases strains on existing infrastructure and keeps consumer bills affordable.

Expanded and improved electricity grids provide the backbone of Africa’s new energy systems in this scenario, and are powered increasingly by renewables. Africa is home to 60% of the best solar resources worldwide, but it currently holds only 1% of solar PV capacity. Already the cheapest source of power in many parts of Africa, solar is set to outcompete all other sources continent-wide by 2030. Renewables – including solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal – account for over 80% of new power generation capacity added by 2030 in the Sustainable Africa Scenario.

While renewables are the driving force for Africa’s electricity sector this decade, the continent’s industrialisation relies in part on expanding natural gas use. More than 5 000 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas resources have been discovered to date in Africa that have not yet been approved for development. These resources could provide an additional 90 bcm of gas a year by 2030, which may well be vital for Africa’s domestic fertiliser, steel, cement and water desalination industries. Cumulative CO2 emissions from the use of these gas resources over the next 30 years would be around 10 billion tonnes. If these emissions were added to Africa’s cumulative total today, they would bring its share of global emissions to a mere 3.5%.

Africa’s vast resources of minerals that are critical for multiple clean energy technologies are set to create new export markets but need to be managed well, with Africa’s revenues from critical mineral exports set to more than double by 2030.

A number of low-carbon hydrogen projects are underway, focused primarily on producing ammonia for fertilisers, which would strengthen Africa’s food security. Africa has huge potential to produce hydrogen using its rich renewable resources. As much as today’s energy demand could be produced at internationally competitive price points by 2030.

Achieving Africa’s energy and climate goals means more than doubling energy investment this decade. This would take it over USD 190 billion each year from 2026 to 2030, with two-thirds going to clean energy.

“Multilateral development banks must take urgent action to increase financial flows to Africa for both developing its energy sector and adapting to climate change,” said Dr Birol. “The continent’s energy future requires stronger efforts on the ground that are backed by global support. The COP27 Climate Change Conference in Egypt in late 2022 provides a crucial platform for African leaders to set the agenda for the coming years. This decade is critical not only for global climate action but also for the foundational investments that will allow Africa – home to the world’s youngest population – to flourish in the decades to come.”

20 June 2022: Husk Power Systems, the leading net-zero energy company serving rural Africa and Asia and operator of the largest fleet of community solar-hybrid microgrids, today announced its “Nigeria Sunshot Initiative”, a multiyear effort to benefit at least 2 million Nigerians with reliable, renewable energy by 2026.

The initiative consists of a three-part strategy: 1) demonstrating accelerated microgrid deployment at scale, 2) improving livelihoods by providing financing for the purchase of energy efficiency appliances (for both households and MSMEs) and 3) catalyzing greater local socio-economic development by rolling out productive use activities, including agri-processing and cold storage.

“Husk Power will do its utmost to support federal, state and local governments to deliver on Nigeria’s goal of universal electrification by 2030,” said Olu Aruike, Country Manager of Husk Nigeria. “With more than 90 million Nigerians still living without access to energy, the Nigeria Sunshot is a real-world demonstration that the microgrid industry is ready to scale, and drive rural economic growth with a net-zero, resilient solution.”

Key goals of the Nigeria Sunshot include:

• Building at least 500 microgrids by 2026;
• Establishing 400,000 connections that benefit over 2 million people;
• Taking at least 25,000 diesel and gasoline generators offline;
• Providing affordable energy to 8,000 women-led business customers;
• Electrifying 700 public health clinics and 200 private hospitals, and 100 public schools.

According to recent Nigerian government data, solar microgrids represent the least-cost technology for 8.9 million of the 19.8 million additional connections needed in the country to achieve universal electrification. Under the Sunshot Initiative, Husk will be able to provide about 5% of those connections, and impact 1% of the total Nigerian population.

In late 2021, Husk became the first company to commission multiple microgrids at once in Nigeria, clearly demonstrating the ability to scale. Husk expects to end 2022 with more than 20 microgrids in operation.

Besides its presence in Nigeria and Tanzania, Husk is also in discussions to enter multiple new markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. By scaling in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, Husk will be able to expand and achieve even greater impact. Overall, Husk committed in a 2022 UN Energy Compact to build 5,000 microgrids by 2030.

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About Husk Power Systems: Founded in 2008, Husk Power Systems is the leading net-zero energy services company operating across Asia and Africa. Its smart and sustainable solutions, centered around community solar microgrids, accelerate access to clean, modern and affordable electricity and catalyze socio-economic development. Husk’s focus on the customer meets the growing aspirations of businesses and households, while its grid-integratable solution supports national electrification plans. For more information, visit: huskpowersystems.com.

• Scaling up off-grid solar power model for transforming rural energy access across Africa | EIB financing to improve access to access to electricity for 643,000 people | Local currency financing to accelerate PAYGO solution for affordable green energy.

21 June 2022: Households, smallholders and entrepreneurs in remote locations across Benin will be able to access reliable and cheap electricity for the first time under a new off-grid solar scheme agreed between leading solar energy company ENGIE Energy Access and the European Investment Bank, one of the world’s largest financiers of renewable energy.

The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide a EUR 10 million loan to support the deployment of 107,000 high-quality solar home systems to Benin. This will open up access to clean energy for 643,000 people. The solar home systems include solar panels and battery storage to be sold on Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) contracts.

Ambroise Fayolle, the European Investment Bank Vice President, said: “Vulnerable communities across Africa are being impacted by global energy shocks triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and so improving access to affordable and clean energy is even more important to fight poverty, create jobs and empower women and girls. The European Investment Bank is pleased to agree new support for scaling up off-grid solar deployment to West Africa under this new partnership with ENGIE.

“For the first time, more than half a million people across Benin will be able to access electricity that will power communications, provide light and make cooking easier. Deployment of solar home systems will also reduce the usage of kerosene, charcoal, candles and generators to help families save money, reduce pollution and reduce the risk of accidents. Unlocking sustainable, economic and social development through off-grid solar is key for Africa’s future and to reduce the impact of global energy shocks, The EIB is pleased to back this project in Benin.”

Gillian-Alexandre Huart, ENGIE Energy Access CEO, said: “Over the last couple of years, the private sector has developed off-grid solutions such as solar home systems (SHS), micro- and mini-grids, which have clearly proven to be sustainable and economical solutions to reach universal energy access by 2030. Thanks to the use of digital tools and the strong penetration of mobile money in Sub-Saharan Africa, ENGIE Energy Access sells access-to-energy products to our customers on credit to make them affordable. It is clear that a combination of capital from private investors and impact funds from multilateral funds is needed in order to reach the amount of funding necessary to realize the energy transition and to meet SDG7 in Africa.”

Gillian-Alexandre Huart, ENGIE Energy Access CEO: “Our new partnership with the European Investment Bank in Benin will provide ultra-affordable PAYGO systems to people in villages across the country, giving access to clean solar energy and financial empowerment. With its sustainable integrated business model, ENGIE Energy Access is now serving 1.5 million customers, impacting over 7 million lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, reaching people in low-income communities or rural areas who are often left out of the economy.”

The new Benin cooperation follows EIB’s previous support for ENGIE to deploy off-grid solar power in Uganda. Benin is the sixth African country to benefit from the EIB’s streamlined support for African off-grid energy investment, following recent backing for projects in Mozambique, Uganda, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Comoros.

Solving the last mile challenge to provide power in remote communities across Benin

More than one million households are dependent on polluting and inefficient lighting by kerosene or candles, and increasingly expensive generators.

Less than one in five people living in remote and rural communities across Benin have access to reliable electricity and only 10% of households are using off-grid solar products.

By scaling up adoption of off-grid solar technology in Benin, this new initiative will provide economic, social, educational and health opportunities for families and entrepreneurs who cannot be connected to the electricity network.

Supporting private sector growth and sustainable development in Benin

Following the new agreement between ENGIE and the European Investment Bank, households, entrepreneurs and smallholders across Benin will be able to access electricity for mobile phones, solar lighting, refrigeration, radio and television. This will help farmers to sell their produce, improve the health of communities and create new markets for traders.

Increased provision of reliable and affordable energy will create new opportunities for women and girls and reduce exposure to indoor pollution from current kerosene use.

Sylvia Hartleif, Ambassador of the European Union to Benin, said: “The European Union is committed to supporting sustainable economic and social development across Benin. This new cooperation initiative between the European Investment Bank and ENGIE demonstrates the value added of European engagement with our African partners to transform energy access and fight against climate change. Harnessing renewable energy through private sector engagement and innovative off-grid solar technology, combined with productive use of power in rural areas, is a direct and concrete result of the European Union’s ‘Green Deal’ for Africa. The initiative will provide new opportunities for more than half a million people across Benin and will pave the way to the clean energy transition, in line with the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ strategy.”

Unlocking financial empowerment and overcoming currency barriers

The provision of the PAYGO model will allow families unable to afford the upfront costs of solar home systems to pay for the equipment over a duration of some years at less than USD 20 cents a day. The new European Investment Bank financing will also allow repayment of equipment purchased in US dollars in local currency. Previously, currency fluctuations hindered provision of affordable, clean energy solutions to communities without access to foreign currency. Customers will also benefit from cheaper costs and easier repayment through use of mobile banking.

Building on the EIB’s renewable energy track record in Benin and across Africa

Over the last decade, the European Investment Bank has provided more than EUR 5.4 billion for clean energy investment across Africa. In recent years, the European Investment Bank has been a leading financial for the Bujagali hydropower project in Uganda and Nachtigal hydropower scheme in Cameroon, the Lake Turkana Wind Farm, Olkaria Geothermal plant and the Radiant and Eldosol solar schemes in Kenya, as well as financing last-mile connections in Kenya and cross-border interconnectors in West, East and Southern Africa. The EIB is also supporting studies to harness hydropower to transform clean energy in Burundi and the Great Lakes region.

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About the European Investment Bank: The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

1 July 2022: The three-day Energy Access Investment Forum (EAIF) took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 28-30 June 2022. The decentralised renewable energy (DRE) industry and investors came together to participate in the two-track programme, lively exhibition, GET.invest Matchmaking sessions, and receptions. Supported by the European Union and GET.invest, EAIF 2022 attracted over 1,200 participants including private and public investors, industry representatives and public officials.The event was sponsored by AfDB, ENGIE Energy Access, Sagemcom, Schneider Electric, TCX, WaterKiosk, AECF, BAE Batterien, BURN, D-REC Initiative, NRECA International, Okra Solar, Phaesun, and REPP.

Together with GET.invest – a European programme that mobilises investment in renewable energy in developing countries, supported by the European Union, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria -ARE facilitated over 520 scheduled matchmaking meetings between investors, technology providers, project developers, as well as development partners and innovators in the DRE sector.

The Forum was opened with high-level welcome remarks emphasising the importance of accelerating efforts to achieve a higher uptake of DRE from the Tanzanian Minister of Energy, Hon. January Yusuf Makamba, AfDB, IRENA, ARE, as well as Manfredo Fanti, Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Tanzania who said: “The EU sees catalysing private sector investments in DRE as a critical part of the EU Global Gateway strategy enabling sustainable energy connections that work for the people and the planet. As a follow-up to the EU-Africa Business Forum in February, EAIF is a perfect occasion for public and private investors, industry, governments and other stakeholders to contribute to this objective and develop business partnerships. On that note, the EU is proud to partner with ARE for this year’s edition of the EAIF.”

Speakers on the first day’s high-level panels discussed the critical role that green recovery initiatives can play in catalysing private sector investments to boost green recovery efforts across Sub-saharan Africa. Following the high-level panels, the Forum moved on to thematic and pitching sessions on green mini-grid investments, productive use approaches, and working capital for DRE companies.

The agenda for the second day was packed with sessions in French and English, focusing on business and investment opportunities in the renewable electrification sector in various countries such as Mozambique, Burundi, Uganda, Congo, Nigeria, and Benin. Speakers on the second day highlighted the importance of working together to create a more conducive market environment to catalyse investment in the DRE sector.

Joao Duarte Cunha, Division Manager, Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa managed by the African Development Bank said: “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, EAIF 2022 has shown that the DRE community is as vibrant as ever. Still, there is much to be done towards a robust and better capitalised sector. We look forward to continuing our support to countries and businesses with our growing suite of catalytic finance instruments. We are also grateful to ARE for providing this unique platform for dialogue and action to accelerate energy access in Africa.”

Moreover, the event created many networking occasions for attendees. On top of the GET.invest matchmaking sessions, industry representatives had the opportunity to meet investors, financiers and government officials during breaks and evening receptions.

On the final day of the EAIF 2022, the sessions were solely focused on Tanzania’s renewable electrification sector, providing industry representatives from Tanzania and international investors with a unique opportunity to do business and develop partnerships. Speakers put a spotlight on renewable electrification, the blue economy and innovative renewable energy solutions in Tanzania.

Wrapping up the three-day event, David Lecoque, CEO, ARE concluded: “On behalf of ARE, I would like to thank all participants who joined EAIF 2022 on-site and virtually. This year’s event was a concrete step taken towards reaching universal energy access with the GET.invest matchmaking sessions, exhibition, panel discussions, thematic and pitching sessions and more. It is only through extensive cooperation that we can achieve SDG-7. The region and the sector is open for business. Now, it is time to invest in renewable electrification!”

4 July 2022: CFAO Kenya Limited a subsidiary of CFAO group (Corporation for Africa and Overseas) proceeds to invest in OFGEN Limited a leader of solar PV installation for commercial and industrial use in East Africa.

CFAO Kenya has worked with OFGEN Limited since 2018 to solarize CFAO Group-owned premises within Kenya and Uganda. CFAO group will continue to leverage on OFGEN’s expertise in commercial solar PV installation to solarize all its business premises within the East African Region, in line with the Group carbon neutrality programme and commitment to 50% reduction in its CO2 emission by 2030. With this investment, CFAO group’s ambition is also to contribute to promoting initiatives towards expanding the use of renewable energy in Africa.

Amb. Dennis Awori, Chairman and Country Delegate of CFAO Kenya said OFGEN’s impressive footprint and project pipeline made it a strong addition to the group’s renewable energy portfolio and the investment will help CFAO group accelerate the penetration of the Commercial & Industrial renewable energy market.

‘Our company shall not relent in creating and passing on a better global environment to the children of the future in countries where we do business by aligning our operations and activities with the global sustainability agenda. With six installations already in operation across Kenya and Uganda, our roadmap is to equip all the remaining CFAO premises in over 10 countries in the East and Southern Africa region with photovoltaic panels to reduce carbon emissions from our business operations in the region by more than 1,000 tons per year by the year 2024” Added Amb. Awori.

”CFAO’s investment suits OFGEN’s short and long-term objectives of creating sustainable development through the provision of efficient and innovative renewable energy solutions in the region on an exciting new scale. To this effect, OFGEN intends to utilize CFAO Group’s extensive footprint across the continent to expand into other African markets.” Said Mr. Jibril Omar the Founder and CEO of OFGEN Limited.

Kenya’s industrial policy aims at inclusive growth, job creation, and poverty reduction through the promotion of a globally competitive manufacturing sector. Despite being a global leader in the adoption of renewable sources for electricity production, Kenya experiences huge transmission and distribution losses of power. This has contributed to the high cost of energy that undermines Kenya’s ability to compete for manufacturing jobs, especially in East Africa. In view of this challenge, OFGEN’s promotion of onsite energy production and consumption through industrial solar PV installation seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of Kenya’s manufacturing sector by reducing energy costs. The company has developed innovative solutions including smart financing models and monitoring systems that can support large scale deployment of industrial solar PV solutions in Kenya.

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About OFGEN: OFGEN, established in 2014, is one of the leading turnkey solar energy companies that develops, designs, procures, constructs, operates, and maintains photovoltaic systems around East Africa for the commercial and industrial sectors. Recently the company added funded solutions in its offer to clients.

To date, the company has cumulatively built and financed over 30+ on-grid and off-grid solar plants with 10+ MWp solar capacity and 9.3MWh of battery energy across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan markets. The company has delivered projects for the likes of Williamson Tea Estate, GlaxoSmithKline, Serena Group of Hotels, Toyota, and British American Tobacco.

About CFAO Kenya Ltd.: CFAO Kenya Limited is a subsidiary of the CFAO Group. The CFAO Group, Corporation for Africa & Overseas, contributes to growth and industrialization in Africa while catering to the continent’s emerging middle class. With a revenue of over €6.9 billion, access to 47 of the 54 countries on the continent, and nearly 21,000 employees, CFAO is a key player in mobility, healthcare, consumer, infrastructure, and energy. Besides being present in Kenya in 3 of the 4 business domains, the Group, through CFAO Kenya Limited is a key factor in renewable energy and infrastructure projects, as well as investment and scale-up of the various start-ups in the mobility sector in the country. In addition, the company is also present in farming technology, providing Agri-mechanization solutions to farmers in Kenya.

4 July 2022: The Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA) has today called for more support from governments and donors to the minigrid sector in Africa, which has shown strong resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic but continues to face financial, policy, and regulatory constraints.

This follows the launch of the second edition of ‘Benchmarking Africa’s Minigrids report,’ a flagship report for AMDA, an industry association created by minigrid developers to boost the health of the sector and deliver on global renewable energy access objectives.

The report shows that the minigrid industry in Africa doubled the number of people it connected to modern and reliable electricity in the last two years amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, more than 500,000 people, healthcare facilities, schools and businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa are now accessing stable electricity thanks to minigrids.

However, the sector is struggling to scale up and realise its potential to accelerate access to clean and affordable energy, particularly in rural areas in a continent with nearly half its population, 600 million people, still lacking access to electricity.

“We have an opportunity to build dynamic, intelligent and renewable energy infrastructure that helps grow communities and economies. Energy is the foundation for all of the SDG’s and as such needs the kind of support from Governments and donors that traditional utilities have received. This is critical for the sector to realise this potential and provide stable renewable energy infrastructure to Hundreds Millions of people” says Jessica Stephens, Chief Executive Officer at Africa Mini-grid Developers Association (AMDA).

Highlights of the findings

The report presents an in-depth analysis of changes that occurred in the industry in 2020 and 2021, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and uncovers emerging opportunities for achieving immediate scale and long-term sustainability.

Key findings include:

Sector Growth: The number of connections almost doubled from 40,700 connections to more than 78,000. The number of operational private sector minigrids grew by 39%, from 288 sites in 2019 to 400 in 2021.

Revenues and Operating Expenses (OPEX): Revenues grew consistently as operational costs dropped, indicating that the industry is approaching financial viability. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), a key metric of industry sustainability and business success, was $8.30 per month for sites commissioned before 2019, up from $4.29 in the previous AMDA report.

Slow disbursement: Financing of the sector remained slow due to the continued government bias toward the centralised grid. In 2020, only 13% ($208 million) of the $1.6 billion of concessional capital committed to the minigrid industry was disbursed to minigrid developers despite progress on all business metrics across the industry. Perceived risk, complex fund design and the time frame to get through regulatory compliance are hindering the ability to disburse concessional capital.

Policy and Regulations: Licensing remains a substantial hurdle with projects often taking more than a year for approval due to complex regulatory frameworks. There is an urgent need to create a regulatory structure that reflects the decentralized nature of minigrids, that allows for bundling sites and bulk licensing of portfolios.

Minigrids as the Growth Engine for Local Economies: Minigrids continue to outperform national and sub-national utilities on service metrics, including up-time, power quality, number of reliable connections and downstream job creation.

“We hope that the insights provided in this report will spur action. AMDA is collaborating with sector players to address market barriers and leapfrog the development and scaling of minigrids that are essential in ensuring the achievement of energy access goals,” said Jessica.

The Report was prepared in partnership with Odyssey Energy Solutions and Economic Consulting Associates (ECA). It builds on data and findings from the first benchmarking report published in 2020. It is the first and only sectoral report that provides a comparative analysis of consumption and revenue trends for the same minigrid sites over multiple years.

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About Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA): AMDA is an industry association created by private sector minigrid developers and operators, donors and investors seeking to improve market conditions for minigrid companies. This includes working to improve policy, regulation and investment towards ending energy poverty by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, AMDA represents over

42 companies, who are operating minigrids across 19 countries. For more information, visit: africamda.org.

6 July 2022: The EU-funded Electrification Financing Initiative (EDFI ElectriFI) and social impact investor and worldwide cooperative Oikocredit have agreed to co-invest US$ 4 million each in Canada-based Solar Panda. Solar Panda designs, manufactures and distributes pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar home systems to low-income communities in Kenya. This new partnership will sustain in-country growth of clean, safe and affordable domestic electricity.

With EDFI ElectriFI’s and Oikocredit’s financing, Solar Panda will use this investment to grow its product offerings, expand its footprint within Kenya (including into traditionally underserved counties) and also set the stage for further expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Over the next seven years, the funding will allow the company to connect over 100,000 households across North and North-East Kenya, the poorest regions of the country. Over time, Solar Panda will have deployed 8.4MW of renewable energy, allowing the avoidance of 400,000+ tons of CO2.

Since 2018, Solar Panda has provided more than 200,000 solar home systems across Kenya from its 37 retail branches, making it one of the fastest growing companies in the sector. It employs more than 300 staff in Kenya and has a network of over 1000 independent sales agents.

Andy Keith, founder and CEO at Solar Panda, said: “We are excited to partner with leading global impact investors Oikocredit and EDFI ElectriFI and thankful that this funding will help us ramp up our efforts at making electricity access universal” said Andy Keith, founder and CEO of Solar Panda. “I’m very proud of the growth and success our team has been able to achieve over the past 4 years and, with nearly 1 billion people in the world without access to electricity, we feel we are just getting started.  We appreciate that EDFI ElectriFI and Oikocredit have shown such great confidence in our approach to balancing commercial pragmatism with our commitment to customers and look forward to working together.”

The EDFI ElectriFI investment falls under its dedicated window for Kenya, a strategy designed specifically for the country, in close collaboration with local authorities and the EU Delegation.

Lionel Dieu, ElectriFI Senior Investment Officer at EDFI Management Company, said: “We are extremely delighted to become a shareholder of Solar Panda. The company has displayed impressive growth over the last years and demonstrated strong resilience amid COVID. Through this co-investment with Oikocredit, we aim at supporting the company in its next stage of development and realize its full potential. This includes reaching an increasing amount of households with no access to electricity in Kenya underserved counties i.e. Northern regions displaying higher (energy) poverty levels.”

Alexander Remy, Equity Officer at Oikocredit, said: “In a short period of time, Solar Panda has demonstrated its capabilities in designing and selling quality solar home systems needed by many households across Kenya. We are happy with the strong local talent they have assembled and are certain they can continue delivering positive results. As an equity investor in a partner like Solar Panda, we will collaborate and continue directing our efforts to make clean energy accessible and improving the quality of life of thousands more households for the communities we serve”.

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About Solar Panda: Solar Panda, headquartered in Canada and Nairobi, is on a journey to give every household access to solar energy — to light their home, improve their health, charge their mobile phone, and provide a window to the world through radio and TV.  Launched in 2017, Solar Panda has grown quickly due to its high-quality products, affordable pricing, excellent customer service, and direct sales strategy.  Solar Panda was ranked the 3rd fastest growing company in Canada in 2021 by Report on Business Magazine, a publication of Canada’s newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail.  Now in more than 200,000 homes, Solar Panda (www.solarpanda.com) is bringing clean, affordable electricity to over 1 million Kenyans. For more information, visit: www.solarpanda.com.

About EDFI ElectriFI: The Electrification Financing Initiative (EDFI ElectriFI) is an impact investment facility supporting access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity and energy services in challenging markets, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. It receives funding from the European Union, USAID’s Power Africa programme, the Government of Sweden and the Government of Italy. Brussels-based EDFI Management Company manages ElectriFI among other development finance initiatives. For more information, visit: www.electrifi.eu.

About Oikocredit: Social impact investor and worldwide cooperative Oikocredit has 45 years of experience funding organisations active in financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy.

Oikocredit’s loans, equity investments and capacity building aim to enable people on low incomes in Africa, Asia and Latin America to improve their living standards sustainably. Oikocredit finances over 500 partners, with total development financing capital outstanding of € 1,015.2 million (at 31 March 2022). For more information, visit: www.oikocredit.coop.

6 July 2022: Symbiotics, the leading market access platform for impact investing, granted Baobab+ EUR 5 million loan to strengthen its presence in 6 African countries to expand electrifications at a larger scale. The funding from Symbiotics comes 9 months after Norfund’s investment of EUR 10 million in equity in Baobab+, and will allow the company to achieve the goal of equipping one million households with solar and digital products within 5 years.

Solar energy represents an exceptional opportunity for rural households that do not have access to electricity. Already active in Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo, Baobab+ has equipped 250,000 households and served more than 1,500,000 beneficiaries in the past 6 years with a “Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYG) model that breaks down the cost barrier. Customers are allowed to make daily, weekly, or monthly payments according to their cash flow in order to activate and ultimately gain ownership of their device.

For Baobab+, access to energy is a springboard to enable every African household to take part in the digital revolution. In Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali and Madagascar, Baobab+ has been a pioneer in launching PAYG smartphone services and has also, to date, equipped more than 110,000 households with digital solutions. Baobab+ provides content that meets its customers’ needs, such as e-education, or the management of small business activities.

In partnership with its parent company: the Baobab Microfinance Group, a major player in access to financial inclusion in Africa, Baobab+ has developed a unique scoring framework that allows its PAYG clients to become eligible for micro-loans, using repayment history from the solar or digital product to assess clients creditworthiness. This proprietary solution, initially introduced in Senegal, will be gradually deployed in all countries.

“Baobab+ is reaching a new stage of its development, the support from Symbiotics will allow us to strengthen our presence, particularly in Nigeria and DR Congo, where we have recently launched operations. It’s really great for us to have an impact investor like Symbiotics by our side, to support us in our growth!”, said Alexandre Coster, Baobab+ Co-founder and CEO.

“We are happy of this partnership and to support the rapid growth of Baobab+ across Africa. We believe Baobab+ fosters a strong environmental and social impact through its energy access offering, which provides households and micro-entrepreneurs based in rural off-grid areas access to clean and safe energy.”, stated Vincent Lehner, Symbiotics Head of Markets Division.

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About Baobab+: Launched in 2015 and operating in six African countries, Baobab+ is a social enterprise that supports households and micro-entrepreneurs in their energy autonomy through the distribution of solar kits, with 250,000 households already equipped (1.5 million beneficiaries), particularly in rural areas. In addition to this primary vocation, the Baobab Group’s subsidiary offers digital devices for educational and professional purposes, with more than 110,000 households (400,000 beneficiaries) already equipped. These products benefit from financing facilities to make them accessible to all. For more information, visit: baobabplus.com or baobabgroup.com.

About Symbiotics: Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to financing microsmall and medium enterprises and low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier markets. Since 2005, Symbiotics has structured and originated some 6,500 deals for over 520 companies in almost 95 emerging and frontier markets representing more than USD 6.5 billion. These investments have been purchased by more than 25 fund mandates and more than 50 third party specialized fund managers, forming a growing ecosystem and marketplace for such transactions. For more information, visit: symbioticsgroup.com.

• Zambia’s Ministries of Energy and Health join forces to improve the delivery of health services through solar electrification of unserved health centers.

8 July 2022: The Government of Zambia has today launched an Action Plan charting the way forward in providing reliable and affordable electricity to unserved health centers using solar to improve the quality of services offered to poor and vulnerable communities. This is in line with the government’s goal of providing equitable quality service for all as laid out in the country’s Vision 2030.

Access to electricity is paramount for optimal functioning of a health facility. It means lighting for safe emergency night-time care and childbirth, refrigeration for blood and vaccines, sterilization facilities, and powering simple medical devices. Yet over 70 percent of rural health facilities in Zambia have no access to electricity, compromising the healthcare of more than 60 percent of the rural population.

Furthermore, many of the health facilities are located too far from the grid to be connected and even those with a grid connection often face power outages. Therefore, off-grid solutions present a key opportunity to provide low carbon, reliable and cost-effective electricity to improve the quality of healthcare services.

A call to Action

The Action Plan, which was accompanied by an Open Letter calling upon development partners and the private sector to support the solarization of health centers in the country, was launched by the Minister of Health Hon. Silvia Masebo, MP,  at the Off-Grid Solar (OGS) Investment Forum on July 8, 2022.

Speaking during the event, Hon Masebo noted that the importance of access to reliable electricity in the delivery of essential health services cannot be over-emphasized. It impacts  on the well-being of women and children.

She pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted the adverse effect of lack of electricity on health outcomes. It made it difficult to treat patients in need of ventilators and the lack of refrigeration constrained the  administration of the much-needed vaccines.

“It is in this regard that the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Health and  Power for All, in collaboration with other stakeholders, have developed this Action Plan which seeks to assist in making deliberate plans to electrify health facilities using off-grid systems. The collaboration further has a Call to Action, a letter that highlights the urgent action needed to invest in the electrification of the health facilities to improve the quality of services and outcomes,” she said.

The Action Plan was developed in partnership with the Zambian Health Coalition and the Off-Grid Task force.

“We congratulate the Zambia government through the Ministry of Health and Energy for this milestone. It marks the beginning of accelerating not only SDG3 on health but also SDG7 on Universal Energy Access and this will also create opportunities for jobs and improve livelihoods. The solarization of health centers will have a transformative effect on the lives of the rural and urban communities in Zambia. We would also like to acknowledge the role of the Zambian Health Coalition and the Off-Grid Taskforce,” said Anand Pathanjali, Power for All Partnerships and Campaigns Manager while speaking at the event.

The Zambia Off-Grid Investment Forum

The forum was hosted by the Ministry of Energy with support from the UKAID-funded Africa Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility (ACE-TAF) and Power for All. In Zambia, ACE TAF has demonstrated the impact of focusing on the nexus between energy and other sectors like health.

The event brought together high-level international and domestic private sector investors and business communities – representatives of social impact, health care and finance to explore areas of collaboration.  It also aimed to raise awareness of the impact and opportunity for electrifying rural health facilities with appropriate solar technologies, thus attracting public and private sector investment for energy in rural clinics and improving health outcomes for millions of Zambians.

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About Power for All: Power for All is a global coalition campaigning to accelerate the end of energy poverty by scaling distributed renewable energy solutions. The campaign represents more than 300 business, finance, and civil society organizations focused on decentralized renewables, including household and business solar, mini-grids and productive use appliances. For more information, visit: www.powerforall.org.

About  the Africa Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility (ACE TAF): The Africa Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility (ACE TAF) is a 4-year programme funded by the UK Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It aims to catalyse a market based approach for private sector delivery of renewable energy electrification technologies, with a focus on high quality stand-alone solar systems. For more information, visit: https://www.ace-taf.org/.

13 July 2022: This week, Acumen launched its new Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative: Powering Livelihoods Using Solar (PEII+). PEII+ is a 5-year, $25 million dollar initiative that will invest early-stage capital in companies that provide renewable energy-powered appliances–from mills and irrigation pumps to electric motorbikes and refrigerators–to microentrepreneurs and smallholder farmers in India and East and West Africa. The goal is to leverage these technologies to boost incomes and climate resilience in vulnerable communities.

PEII+ is supported by the IKEA Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Autodesk Foundation, and Distributed Power Fund, and has been awarded follow-on funding with UK Aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform. PEII+ is also strategically aligned with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) commitments in India and East and West Africa.

“The United Nations has urged countries to eliminate energy poverty by 2030 as energy access influences many factors people need to live a decent quality of life. That’s why we’re championing our long-term partner Acumen’s PEII+ programme that will invest in expanding the market for renewable energy solutions. These solutions will support families living in poverty to increase their incomes by sustaining their farms and businesses or by providing entrepreneurship opportunities in mobility, food processing and food storage businesses,” said Biswarup Banerjee, programme manager (renewable energy) at IKEA Foundation.

The majority of the world’s poor people are rural and young, and living without access to affordable and sustainable electricity is a major impediment to rising out of poverty. Renewable energy-powered appliances have the potential to more than double incomes by saving time, improving yields, and enhancing resiliency. A solar-powered water pump can be game-changing for a smallholder farmer who depends on costly diesel generators to irrigate their land. Likewise, a solar-powered refrigerator can augment business income for a small shop owner who can keep fish, poultry, dairy, and beverages cool for their customers while avoiding food waste. With climate change creating more uncertainty in vulnerable communities, self-sustaining income is more important than ever.

“To tackle poverty and climate change in this decade, we need to reimagine how low-income communities access and use power. Productive use appliance companies have the potential to transform livelihoods, but lack access to investment capital to support their growth. Alongside our partners, we will continue to invest high-risk, early-stage capital in this next generation of innovations at the intersection of energy access, livelihoods, and climate resilience,” said Sarah Bieber, Head of Energy Partnerships at Acumen.

Acumen launched its first Pioneer Energy Investing Initiative (PEII) in 2017 to support the new wave of energy access entrepreneurs serving communities living in poverty. With its patient capital, Acumen aimed to narrow the off-grid solar industry’s Pioneer Gap, where companies experience the greatest challenge in attracting Seed and Series A equity financing. By 2021, Acumen had invested early-stage equity into 12 energy access companies that went on to attract an additional $128 million from other investors and reach 1.25 million people with energy–40% of whom lived under the $3.20 per day poverty line.

While the pioneer gap remains for early-stage off-grid energy companies, the market has experienced incredible growth in recent years. In fact, capital flows reached an all-time high of $475 million in 2021, up from just $16 million in 2012. At the same time, the sub-sector focused on productive use appliances has emerged as the next frontier of critical, clean energy solutions serving low-income communities. Despite the potential for boosting the livelihoods of communities living in poverty and an estimated addressable market of $11 billion, these clean energy-powered appliance businesses do not receive enough investment to grow and commercialize. With greater access to capital, these companies can scale their operations, streamline the distribution of their products and services and eventually increase the consumer financing that is critical for low-income customers.

“A challenge we have encountered at Koolboks is how to create the balance between selling high-quality products to our customers–mostly low-income small business owners–at an affordable price. This is where investment capital becomes critical to ensure we can continue to serve our customer base with clean cold storage. I celebrate the launch of PEII+ and hope it will catalyze many other investors to start betting on these types of business models,” said Ayoola Dominic, Co-Founder, and CEO of Koolboks, a Nigeria-based pioneer in cold storage with a focus on low-income communities. Koolboks uses pay-as-you-go technology to make solar-powered refrigerators more affordable. In 2020, Acumen joined Nigerian Aruwa Capital Management to close Koolboks’ Seed round.

From 2022 to 2026, Acumen will utilize innovative financial instruments to make early-stage investments in 10 new businesses. It will also run accelerators to cultivate emerging locally-led energy and agricultural businesses, organize convenings, and share insights with the energy access sector and beyond to crowd in more capital and help grow this ecosystem.

One of Acumen’s six productive use of energy investees, S4S Technologies, is an India-based business that created a portable, solar dehydrator that dries vegetables and spices while retaining their nutrients, and works with smallholder farmers and microentrepreneurs, mainly women, to improve their livelihoods. Two years after Acumen’s investment, seven in 10 farmers and nine in 10 entrepreneurs said that their incomes increased because of working with S4S. “Our vision at S4S is to empower every woman smallholder farmer to become a processor so that she can earn additional income and move herself and her family out of poverty. Our business model is proven to benefit communities and the planet. To expand our impact, we need investment capital. Acumen’s PEII+ is providing game-changing support to early-stage businesses like ours that are improving livelihoods while mitigating climate change through the use of clean energy”, said Nidhi Pant, Co-Founder of S4S Technologies.

PEII+ leverages Acumen’s track record of more than 16 years of investing in the energy access sector. Alongside KawiSafi Ventures–Acumen’s for-profit fund focused on energy access in Africa–it has invested in a portfolio of 40 companies that have impacted over 223 million lives and averted 58.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. As we look to the future, in addition to PEII+, Acumen will continue to drive universal energy access by incentivizing and de-risking off-grid solar expansion into hard-to-reach markets and investing growth capital in low-carbon solutions in Africa.

• The new agreement supports Ignite’s goals of deploying more than 300k solar home systems in the coming years.

20 July 2022: Ignite Power is pleased to announce the signing of an extended partnership agreement with SNV Mozambique, as part of the implementation of the BRILHO programme, funded by United Kingdom Aid – Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Ukaid-FCDO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The new agreement extends the support by backing Ignite’s goals of deploying more than 300k solar home systems in the coming years, expanding operations into more provinces and districts, and reaching people in thousands of villages.

"To reach large-scale impact, we must combine capital support with smart, digital, and last-mile operations. We are excited to share this vision with the BRILHO Program" — Angela Homsi, Co-founder of Ignite Power.

Operating in Mozambique since 2019 under the Energy For All programme, Ignite has already directly impacted more than 100,000 people in the hardest-to-reach, remote communities. About 70% of Mozambique’s population, more than 21 million people, still lives without access to electricity in their homes. Ignite is on a journey to connect hundreds of thousands of households to sustainable, off-grid solar electricity, impacting millions across the country.

Operating throughout the Sub-Saharan Africa region since 2014, Ignite is offering the most advanced and affordable sustainable life-enabling distributed infrastructure solutions, including solar home systems, solar irrigation pumps, clean cooking stoves, solar home appliances, and more. With a network covering more than 10,000 villages, it has created 3,500 job opportunities in remote communities, with inclusiveness, sustainability, and gender equality leading every step.

With competitive affordability leading operations and a strong focus on last-mile communities, Ignite is a dominant operator in last-mile communities, collaborating with development partners, such as the BRILHO Program, to reach and impact millions of people, no matter their location or financial means. Through advanced digital tools that enable smart verification of every deployment, Ignite ensures that 100% of the capital reaches its proper destination, establishing a vast impact on some of the world’s poorest communities that have long been excluded from modern practices.

“We are proud to collaborate with a leading organization such as SNV, extending our current partnership and operations in the country,” says Angela Homsi, Ignite’s co-founder. “Having electricity at home for the first time is a life-changing event, leading to economic development, better education, a safer, healthier environment, and reductions of greenhouse gasses. These efforts have never been more important in today’s reality and the rising food insecurities”.

“BRILHO’S mandate is to create an ecosystem in the off-grid energy sector in Mozambique, accelerating access to affordable energy solutions, through innovative business initiatives and bringing a diverse offering of products and services to the households. BRILHO is supporting the GoM to develop a more enabling environment, promoting private investment to create a sustainable market in Mozambique,” says Bernie Chaves, Country Director for SNV Mozambique.

“Distributed infrastructure technologies and Results-Based Financing programs proved to be the most affordable, reliable, and sustainable solutions to reach large-scale impact in remote communities across Africa”, says Homsi. “To do the same in Mozambique, we must combine capital support with smart, digital, and last-mile operations. We are excited to share this vision with the BRILHO Program and to jointly support the government in meeting its goals to reach universal access to electricity in the country by 2030 and to lead Mozambique into a more sustainable and clean future”.

• In addition to the $238M off balance sheet facility and other financings closed in the last 6 months, this brings total capital raised for d.light in 2022 to over $300M.

21 July 2022: d.light, a pioneering manufacturer and provider of clean-energy products, today announced a $50 million investment from a consortium of lenders with a focus on the renewable energy space including SunFunder (Mirova SunFunder since June 2022) and TDB (Trade and Development Bank) as Co-arrangers and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. The investment is structured as a balance sheet debt facility and will enable continued expansion of the company’s solar and Pay-Go consumer finance business in Africa and the launch of new innovative products.

“The investment underpins the catalytic role of the company in making available clean, reliable solar energy solutions through the pay-as-you-go business model that enables off-grid customers to pay for solar lighting products in affordable instalments using various mobile payment options. Significant amounts of capital are required to enable us to continue providing these financing plans for our customers as we grow. We are thankful for the continued support of our funding partners to enable us to create a brighter future for the families we serve as we continue on our journey to impact a billion lives,” said d.light CEO and Co-founder Ned Tozun.

“d.light and SunFunder have been partners for nearly 10 years. We have seen d.light transform over 125 million lives with their products and are happy to have been part of their journey of building a future of clean energy for all,” said Collins Kuindwa who has led the transaction for Mirova SunFunder. “We are delighted to have co-led this syndicate of proactive lenders who worked together with one common goal: to provide d.light with additional capital to transform the lives of 1 billion people with sustainable products by 2030.”

“TDB is pleased to be supporting d.light on their journey to impacting 1 billion lives. Through our triple bottom line approach, we ensure that every transaction we finance is sustainable in economic, social, and environmental terms in our member states. With ongoing CO2 emissions reductions for every household reached, this transaction will create significant environmental impact, while contributing to critical outcomes such as access to electricity, job creation, economic growth, increased health benefits, improved quality of education and more,” said Michel Awori, CEO of TDB.

“The lack of access to energy continues to hold back social and economic development, particularly in SubSaharan Africa. As such, supporting off-grid renewable energy solutions is key to FMO’s strategy,” said Marina Pannekeet, Manager Energy Eastern & Southern Africa at FMO. “As one of the leading providers of solar home systems and an existing FMO equity investee, we are happy to continue to support d.light on its future growth trajectory. By denominating part of our commitment in local currency, our financing is intended to de-risk the company’s balance sheet, and make it more resilient to potential shocks.”

Since its founding, d.light has provided solar energy to more than 125 million people in 70 countries. Their extensive product line ranges from extremely affordable portable solar lanterns to solar home systems and appliances such as TVs, fans, and smartphones.

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About d.light: Founded in 2006 at Stanford, d.light is a global leader in making transformative products available and affordable to low-income families. Most of the customers don’t have access to financing or reliable power, and d.light removes those barriers. 

d.light has sold over 25 million products including solar lanterns, solar home systems, TVs, radios and smartphones, impacting the lives of over 125 million people. Their vision is to transform the lives of 1 billion people with sustainable products by 2030. For more information, visit: https://www.dlight.com.

About Mirova SunFunder: Mirova SunFunder, formed by the acquisition of SunFunder by Mirova in June 2022, has closed more than $175 million in debt financing to 58 solar borrowers in emerging markets, improving energy access for over 10 million people. Investments to date have been in the off-grid solar, mini-grid, productive use, C&I and telco ESCO sectors, in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. SunFunder won a UN Global Climate Action Award at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. Its teams are working on a new fund, the Gigaton Empowerment Fund, which aims to raise $500 million, driven by the demand for large-scale financing to scale up climate action and energy access. For more information, visit: www.sunfunder.com.

About Mirova: Mirova is a management company dedicated to sustainable investment and an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers. Through conviction management, Mirova’s goal is to combine long-term value creation and sustainable development. Pioneers in many areas of sustainable finance, Mirova’s talents aim to continue innovating in order to offer their clients solutions with high environmental and social impact. Mirova and its affiliates manage €27.2 billion as of March 31, 2022.

About Natixis Investment Managers: Natixis Investment Managers’ multi-affiliate approach connects clients to the independent thinking and focused expertise of more than 20 active managers. Ranked among the world’s largest asset managers1 with more than $1.3 trillion assets under management2 (€1.187 trillion), Natixis Investment Managers delivers a diverse range of solutions across asset classes, styles, and vehicles, including innovative environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies and products dedicated to advancing sustainable finance. The firm partners with clients in order to understand their unique needs and provide insights and investment solutions tailored to their long-term goals.

About TDB: Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a multilateral, treatybased, investment-grade development finance institution, with 41 sovereign and institutional shareholders and assets of USD 8 bn. TDB serves 22 economies in its region, with the mandate to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration, and sustainable development.

TDB is part of the TDB Group, which also comprises TDF (the Trade and Development Fund), ESATF (the Eastern and Southern African Trade Fund), TCI (TDB Captive Insurance), and the TDB Academy. For more information, visit: www.tdbgroup.org.

About FMO: FMO is the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in developing countries and emerging markets by investing in ambitious projects and entrepreneurs. FMO believes that a strong private sector leads to economic and social development and has a 50-year proven track record of empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life. FMO focuses on three sectors that have high development impact: financial institutions, energy, and agribusiness, food & water. With a committed portfolio of EUR 9.3 billion spanning over 85 countries, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector developments banks globally. For more information, visit: www.fmo.nl.

28 July 2022: The African Development Bank today signed a $60 million financial package comprising $50 million subordinated debt to support CRDB Bank’s regional expansion efforts and a senior loan of $10 million to accelerate access to finance for small businesses managed and owned by women in Tanzania.

The facility is coupled with a $175,000 technical assistance grant from the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA) with support from the Women Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative to strengthen CRDB’s capacity to support women entrepreneurs in Tanzania to become more bankable.

Similarly, the African Guarantee Fund has signed a guarantee line to CRDB Bank worth $50 million. The line includes the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth component to minimize risk in investing in women-led businesses and further support their growth.

The agreement was signed by Nnenna Nwabufo, the African Development Bank’s Director General for East Africa; Jules Ngankam, Group Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund; and Abdulmajid Nsekela, Chief Executive Officer of CRDB Bank PLC. The bouquet of financing will enable CRDB to significantly impact the socio-economic growth of the region by empowering small businesses, especially women, and unleashing their full potential.

Ngankam acknowledged the longstanding relationship between his Fund and CRDB Bank, supporting small and medium enterprises across various sectors. “This tripartite partnership is a game changer, particularly to bridge the financing gap for women entrepreneurs,” Ngankam said.

The African Development Bank’s Nnenna Nwabufo stated that the partnership would, as CRDB expands, enable SMEs to access finance in the region. More importantly, it adds to Tanzania’s efforts to close the gap in access to finance for women entrepreneurs, which is estimated at $1.6 billion.

“We are very excited to have closed this agreement. The subordinated loan facility will improve the CRDB’s overall capitalisation and support future growth and regional expansion without jeopardizing capital ratios. I’d like to thank our long-term partners, the African Development Bank and the African Guarantee Fund for their ongoing support,” said Abdulmajid Nsekela, CEO and Managing Director of CRDB Bank Group. The bank is currently finalizing its move to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while also considering expanding into other East and Central African countries.

Nsekela said the agreement with the Bank and the African Guarantee Fund will support CRDB’s commitment to assisting women-owned SMEs in building resilience and closing the working capital gap. “The $10 million credit line and $50 million guarantee will strengthen our ability to support many women-owned businesses through our Women Access to Finance Initiative, which is run by CRDB Malkia.”

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About the African Development Bank Group: The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information, visit: www.afdb.org.

About African Guarantee Fund: African Guarantee Fund (AGF) is a non-bank financial institution whose objective is to promote economic development, increase employment and reduce poverty in Africa by providing financial institutions with guarantee products and capacity development assistance specifically intended to support SMEs in Africa. AGF’s guarantee products are utilized in over 40 African countries.

As a 2X Challenge Investment, AGF is committed to support women-owned and women-led businesses through the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth program which aims to unlock up to $ 5 billion for African women businesses by 2026.

African Guarantee Fund has a rating of AA- by Fitch Ratings Agency. For more information, visit: www.africanguaranteefund.com.

About CRDB Bank Plc: CRDB Bank Plc is one of the East Africa’s leading banks, serving individuals, micro, small & middle businesses and large corporations with a full range of Retail, Treasury, Insurance, Trade Finance, Syndications, Premier Banking, Agriculture and Microfinance services.

CRDB Bank is the first bank in Tanzania to be rated amongst the top ten stable and safer to invest African banks by the world’s most respected rating agency, Moody`s Investors Services. Moody`s rated CRDB Bank with a “B1 stable outlook” which is the highest rating to have been acquired by banks or financial institutions in Sub Saharan Africa. UN Green Climate Fund accredits CRDB Bank since November 2019 and Global Finance recognizes it as the Best Bank in Tanzania for the year 2020.

CRDB Bank provides unmatched convenience in Tanzania and Burundi serving more than 3 million customers with a large footprint of 268 branches, 19,000 CRDB Wakala, over 550 ATMs, over 1,500 merchants and a 24/7 Call Centre. For more information, visit: www.crdbbank.co.tz.

3 August 2022: Accessing sustainable financing for off-grid projects and other climate-resilient infrastructure remains a major bottleneck for off-grid Developers across sub-Saharan Africa. With the continuous efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Rural Electrification Agency’s (REA) consistent and deliberate collaboration with private sector players and other critical stakeholders in the nation’s off-grid sector, some of the hurdles mitigating growth in the sector are gradually being eliminated through strategic Public-Private Partnerships.

On the 2nd of August, 2022, the REA, Federal Government’s implementing Agency for the Solar Power Naija (SPN) programme officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (InfraCredit), a third-party guarantor for approved developers under the SPN programme. The MoU is designed to deepen and strengthen the strategic partnership between the REA through the Solar Power Naija (SPN) Programme and InfraCredit in a bid to catalyse long-term local currency investments into the Nigeria solar off-grid space.

As a key stakeholder in the nation’s financial sector and an institution with a robust history of unlocking potentials for long-term local currency infrastructure finance in Nigeria, InfraCredit has continued to walk in lockstep with the SPN Programme, while ultimately enabling private sector developers within the space to scale the bottlenecks involved in accessing off-grid infrastructure financing.

As a strategic reaction to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SPN Programme was launched as a critical component of the Federal Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). The SPN is being implemented by the REA to ultimately meet the objectives of providing renewable energy access to 5 million households, impacting about 25 million Nigerians while providing 250,000 new renewable energy jobs. The Programme also aims to improve local content in the off-grid space by supporting the financing of upstream companies in the business of manufacturing and assembly.

While commending the InfraCredit team, led by its Managing Director, Chinua Azubike, the MD/CEO of REA, Engr. Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad reiterated the relevance of such deliberate partnerships and the need to consistently support private sector players in the off-grid sector. He added that with the quality of the Facility being provided by InfraCredit under the SPN, developers are able to reach more homes and communities across the nation.

The Managing Director of InfraCredit, while emphasizing the sustained commitment of the REA reaffirmed the company’s commitments to eliminate challenges lenders face within the ecosystem through the simplification of transactions which allows prompt delivery of off-grid infrastructure to Nigerians. He added that the SPN Programme, led by Barbara Izilein, Head SPN, has been supportive so far and they expect this support to continue as they expand their portfolio of clean energy projects in the country.

The Agency’s Executive Director, Technical Services Engr. Barka Sajou expressed his delight about the strategic partnership while commending InfraCredit and other private sector players who have keyed into the REA mandate to provide sustainable energy to the unserved and the underserved.

While urging private sector players to explore opportunities for collaboration with the REA, the Executive Director of the Agency’s Rural electrification Fund (REF), Dr. Sanusi Ohiare commended InfraCredit for its deep understanding of the business of energy in Nigeria. Mr Alaba Netufo, the Agency’s Executive Director, Corporate Services reemphasized the importance of providing guarantees while deploying off-grid infrastructure at scale.

12 August 2022: Beacon Power Services (BPS) provides data analytics and grid management solutions that enable utilities and Commercial and Industrial (C&I) customers to better manage their energy assets. Founded in 2014, BPS offers electric utilities software and systems to improve the efficiency of electricity distribution. As a result of BPS’s software platforms, utilities are able to reduce technical, commercial and collection losses across their transmission network. A key outcome of better asset management is improved energy access for utility customers: more hours of electricity for the same amount of energy injected into the electricity transmission system. For C&I customers, BPS’s energy management platform allows them to optimize the timing and volume of diesel-generated electricity. The result is lower spending on diesel. This is good both for the environment and user finances.

BPS currently operates in Nigeria and Ghana, and plans to expand its services to other African countries. Persistent is proud to support BPS as it works towards helping businesses and households reduce their energy costs and increase their energy efficiency amidst rising diesel prices.

Utilities delivering electricity to over 8 million customers (households and businesses) use BPS’s utility management platform. A few hundred C&I customers also use their energy services management platform to manage and optimize their energy consumption level and mix. BPS’s approach and relationship with its clients creates unique opportunities to support C&I customers’ desires to optimize their energy mix towards more renewable and lower cost energy options.

Persistent Senior Venture Builder Toukam Ngoufanke says: “At Persistent we believe that platform solutions like BPS create efficiencies and reduce energy waste. Amid rising energy costs in Africa as well as the rest of the World, BPS’s technology is great for the environment, great for households, and great for businesses. This fits right into our mission as Africa’s climate venture builder. We are thrilled to journey with Bim Adisa, BPS’s founder, and his capable team.”

Bim Adisa, an entrepreneur and BPS founder, has a wide experience in energy finance and engineering that spans Africa, North America, Europe and Asia. He is passionate about solving the tough problems that power utilities and their customers across Africa face. BPS’s products today have helped increase daily availability of electricity by over 25% across some of Africa’s largest cities.

BPS’s Bim Adisa says: “It is impossible for Africa to develop without significantly improving energy access and reliability across its major cities. When we realized that the technology designed for developed markets fails to address Africa’s unique infrastructure challenges, we developed our own solution tailored to the continent. We created a way to work with power companies to help increase reliable electricity supply for more hours daily, allowing consumers and businesses to decrease reliance on diesel generation, which reduces environmental pollution.”

17 August 2022: Hotspot Network Ltd. (HNL), a leading telecommunications service provider, and Husk Power Systems, operator of the largest fleet of rural solar-hybrid microgrids, today announced a partnership in Nigeria to transition mobile towers from diesel generation to solar power, and to bundle electricity and connectivity solutions for off-grid communities.

The two companies have already converted nearly 20 of Hotspot’s mobile towers from diesel to solar, and expect to complete at least 100 projects by the middle of 2023. Nigeria’s estimated 25,000 telecom towers and their base transceiver stations (BTS) use 1.25 million liters of diesel daily. Per tower, that is equivalent to 50 tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions annually if converted to solar.

By working with Husk Power, Hotspot is able to go zero-carbon from design to installation, reducing both capital and operational costs, accelerating their energy transition and avoiding risks from global diesel price volatility. Hotspot can now guarantee 100% clean energy service to mobile and data customers on a 24/7 basis.

In addition, the two companies have started to collaborate in introducing cost-effective energy and digital communications services to off-grid communities. Already two communities where Husk was operating solar microgrids have also accessed mobile coverage for the first time through Hotspot. The previous lack of coverage meant an inability for local businesses and households to take advantage of mobile payment and other digital services.

”By partnering with commercial and industrial businesses, we can speed up Nigeria’s C&I energy transition, and also open up more low carbon, modern services to drive economic opportunities where they didn’t previously exist,” said Husk Nigeria Country Director, Olu Aruike. “For Husk, reliable network coverage also enables us to better serve our customers, which is our ultimate mission.”

According to Founder and Chief Executive of Hotspot Network Ltd, Engr. Morenikeji Aniye, “We believe firmly that the key to unlocking sustained global economic growth is through digital inclusion of the rural communities; providing them with access to the needed tools, funding and the markets to distribute their various commodities and trade. This partnership enables us to deliver on our mission to digitize the unserved and underserved communities more efficiently and sustainably, whilst taking care of our planet.”

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About Hotspot Network Limited: Founded in 2012, Hotspot Network Limited (HNL) provides tower collocation and infrastructure sharing services to mobile operators, as well as a network-as-a-service (NaaS) solution aimed at overcoming the challenges of expanding mobile connectivity in rural areas of Nigeria. For more information, visit: hotspot.com.ng.

About Husk Power Systems: Founded in 2008, Husk Power Systems is the leading net-zero energy services company operating across Asia and Africa. Its smart and sustainable solutions, centered around community solar microgrids, accelerate access to clean, modern and affordable electricity and catalyze socio-economic development. Husk’s focus on the customer meets the growing aspirations of businesses and households, while its grid-integratable solution supports national electrification plans. For more information, visit: huskpowersystems.com.