AfDB partners with groups to support green electricity startups in Africa

This year, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and other donors have invested more than $ 2 billion to support the development of green electricity startups in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

The Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (LEAF), which the AfDB approved in February, calls for the Bank to commit up to $164 million toward the promotion of decentralized renewable energy in six African nations. In Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tunisia, the $800 million program will encourage commercial and local currency investments to scale up the operations of decentralized renewable energy companies. Around 18 decentralized renewable energy projects are anticipated to receive LEAF funding, bringing access to six million residents and businesses and producing 28.8 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. over the course of the systems’ lifetimes, in greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Together with the Green Climate Fund, who approved $170.9 million in concessional financing for it in July of last year, the AfDB developed the LEAF program. The framework complements current programs like the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa and is a component of the bank’s larger off-grid strategy under the New Deal on Energy for Africa.

At the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) in the Tunisian capital, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, listed renewable energy as one of the most important investment sectors.

Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a Special Fund with multiple donors, is managed by the AfDB.

It offers catalytic financing to open up private sector investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. In line with the New Deal on Energy for Africa and Sustainable Development Goal 7, the Fund’s overarching objective is to help ensure that everyone in Africa has access to universally affordable, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy services.

The Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF), which invests in early-stage and growth-stage energy startups in Canada, has received $ 13 million this year from FinDev Canada as well.

According to Dubai-based research firm Magnitt, 67 percent of the hundreds of millions of dollars raised by energy startups in the first half of this year came from Africa. Eight winners of the 2022 edition of the annual incubation program for beginning renewable energy entrepreneurs have been awarded a $80,000 grant, according to a separate announcement made by All On Hub in collaboration with the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC). They are: Powerbox Energy Systems, Retile, Let It Cold, Energy Assured, Nutrideen Agriculture Concepts, Danwawo Group, Swift Tranzact, Solaris Greentech Hub, and Retile.

Chief Executive Officer, ACOB Lighting Technology Ltd., at the Energy for All Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. Alexander Obiechina bemoaned the fact that, despite an increase in investor interest in Africa, most funding for the sustainable energy sector still goes to foreign-owned businesses.

In addition to unfavorable perceptions, Obiechina claimed that African startups do not get as much government assistance or technical support as their counterparts abroad.