We are delighted to announce the publication of a new position paper that sets out a series of recommendations for ramping up financing for mini-grids in Africa.
The paper, How to Unlock Financing for Mini-Grids in Africa at Scale Through Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration, was co-authored by Camco-managed REPP and AMDA and is based on insights shared by leading developers and investors from Africa’s solar mini-grids industry during a recent roundtable event in Nairobi.
Mini-grids have huge potential for addressing energy access challenges and meeting SDG7, with The World Bank's ESMAP estimating they could provide electricity to half a billion people by 2030. Critically, however, this would require USD 220 billion of investment, which represents a vast increase on the USD 28 billion invested in mini-grids globally to date.
Project developers and financiers often have different views on the key challenges currently inhibiting sector growth and the possible solutions, including how to increase investment flows. But without a common vision, effective and timely progress is not possible.
Held under the Chatham House Rule, the Mini-grid CEO Roundtable - co-hosted by REPP and AMDA - provided both sides with the opportunity to speak openly on these key challenges and share their knowledge and experiences with the common goal of scaling investment in the sector.
The recommendations laid out in the paper are the result of those conversations and are grouped into four categories: achieving scale, unlocking deal flow, strengthening ESG and impact, and mitigating regulatory risk. The findings are further distilled into the following three core messages:
Agreeing on a common goal and definitions of scale and impact is critical for accelerating mini-grid deployment in line with SDG7 targets.
The key to unlocking investment flow lies in improving the transparency, collaboration and trust between developers and funders, as well as within these stakeholder groups themselves, with each of them playing their part towards the achievement of SDG7.
Greater emphasis must be placed on streamlining processes (investment, impact monitoring, regulatory) to improve the efficiency of deal flow.
