A fund established to assist off-grid solar businesses in sub-Saharan Africa recover from the COVID-19 crisis will receive $20 million in public funding for the second phase of its recovery effort.
The Covid-19 Recovery Platform (CRP) will receive the low-interest loans, the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced last week. The Global Environment Facility in the US will contribute $13 million, and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa will contribute $7 million. The governments of Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States provide funding for the latter donor.
The AfDB said the loans will be paid into the CRP blended finance vehicle and be used to attract a further $70 million from private investors to back off-grid solar.
The money will be disbursed by the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, which is managed by London-based Lion’s Head Global Partners, Amsterdam’s Triple Jump, and New York-based Social Investment Managers and Advisors. The Off-Grid Energy Access Fund is part of the Facility for Energy Inclusion, which is financed by the state-owned development institutions of Norway, Germany, Austria, the EU, and the multilateral Clean Technology Fund.
The AfDB said the CRP blended finance vehicle had already distributed more than $50 million in cheap loans to a dozen off-grid energy companies operating across Africa.
In a press release issued by the AfDB, Alix Graham, fund lead for the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, said in a press release that the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund was able to offer affordable financing solutions in markets such as Malawi and Sierra Leone that helped companies reduce the impact of increased currency volatility and rising logistics costs.
