Major company set to launch first region-wide off-grid power initiative — here's what it entails
The Casablanca, Morocco-based investment platform plans to invest — through the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa fund — $500 million in climate-friendly projects in sectors ranging from renewable energy to transportation, according to Africa50's head Alain Ebobisse, cited in the report.
"You can catalyze $10 billion worth of investments," he said, adding that the first close would occur in the first half of the year.
In a first for the continent, Africa50 also intends to create a $200 million fund for companies that provide distributed renewable energy, like solar-powered mini-grids and home systems, which will be known as Africa Solar Facility. Meanwhile, a Nigeria-focused fund for distributed renewable energy is in the works, Bloomberg explained.
Africa50, which runs Africa50-Project Development, Africa50-Project Finance, and the Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, hopes to tap the $2.3 trillion held by African institutions, Ebobisse said.
UN data shows that around 600 million Africans, or nearly half the continent's population, still lack reliable access to electricity, which limits the provision of basic services like healthcare and water.
"We need to look at multiple sources of power generation. We need to look at in each country that we're focused on, each country that we're investing in: What is its comparative advantage?" Africa50's Chief Operating Officer Tshepidi Moremong said in a video shared on Facebook by Devex in late January. "Is it solar? Is it hydro? Is it gas to power?"
A long-term growth opportunity for investors in Africa and beyond, the deployment of off-grid power infrastructure can help bridge the gap in energy access, improve the economic resilience of local communities by creating jobs in the sector, and, on a larger scale, secure the continent's position in the global transition to a low-carbon, environmentally friendly economy.
"We invested in off grid in Africa since 2014 and still hanging in there with the skin of our teeth. Waves of support and enthusiasm have come and gone with mostly the same cast of characters and on the whole without real success," engineer and angel investor Tara Lindstedt wrote on LinkedIn. "Truly hope this time it happens."
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Per Ebobisse, quoted by Bloomberg, Africa50 is about to complete the financing of Africa's first large-scale public-private partnership on electricity transmission lines and is set to pursue similar projects in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Gabon.
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Business Insider
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