Page 13 - AfrElec Week 38 2022

AfrElec OFF- GRID AfrElec

GEF, AfDB provide $20mn to

expand COVID-19 Off-Grid

Recovery Platform

AFRICA THE African Development Bank Group (AfDB) managers which jointly anchored Phase I of
has approved a $20mn concessional investment the Covid-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform. The
to support the second phase of the COVID-19 other two are Triple Jump and Social Investment
Off-Grid Recovery Platform (CRP), which aims Managers and Advisors.
to unlock private capital for energy access com- Mark van Doesburgh, deputy head of sus-
panies to mitigate impacts of the pandemic while tainable energy at Triple Jump, said: “We appre-
advancing access to clean electricity. ciate the continuous support provided by the
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa African Development Bank to accelerate pro-
(SEFA), a multi-donor fund managed by the gress towards SDG 7. The concessional funding
AfDB, will provide $7mn in financing for the provided under CRP phase II comes at a critical
expansion with $13mn coming from the Global moment for early-stage energy access companies
Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral envi- that continue to be affected by Covid-19 and
ronmental fund. allows Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund to
The second phase will help create an addi- release flexible financing into the sector at a time
tional $70mn in funding for the energy access when risk-capital is increasingly scarce.”
sector to cushion the pandemic’s persistent Through CRP partners, energy access firms
impacts on supply chains, inflation, the rising can access a broad range of flexible debt financ-
cost of capital, and the effects of the conflict in ing solutions on more affordable terms. To date,
Ukraine. over $50mn in soft financing has been approved
Alix Graham, Fund Lead of the Off-Grid for 12 energy access companies that are com-
Energy Access Fund, said: “With the SEFA mercializing and deploying solar home systems,
concessional funding under CRP, the Off-Grid mini-grids, and commercial and industrial solar
Energy Access Fund was able to offer affordable irrigation solutions.
financing solutions in markets such as Malawi “Thanks to this strong partnership, we have
and Sierra Leone that helped companies to been able to mobilize over $140mn of patient
reduce the impact of increased currency volatil- capital to mitigate the unprecedented challenges
ity and rising logistics costs.” faced by the energy access industry in recent
She described CRP as a partnership between years and to protect progress towards universal
the development and private sectors that offered access in Africa,” said João Duarte Cunha, Man-
innovative financing solutions without distort- ager of the Renewable Energy Funds Division in
ing the market or displacing private capital. charge of SEFA at the AfDB.™
Off-Grid Energy Access Fund is managed by
Lion’s Head Global Partners, one of three fund

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