African Development Bank’s SEFA grants $760,000 to develop small-scale renewable energy projects across Sub Saharan Africa
The African Development
Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), has approved a $760,000
grant to Empower New Energy AS (EmNEW), to develop at least eight small
renewable energy projects with capacity ranging from1-10 MW, towards
bankability and construction.
The grant will support a
broad range of project preparation and development activities, including
technical feasibility studies, legal due diligence, environmental and social
impact assessment, quality assurance and risk management.
Through its Empower Invest
fund, EmNEW invests in small and medium-scale renewable energy projects in
Africa, with a focus on solar power, hybrid, and hydro technologies.
Welcoming the approval,
Terje Osmundsen, EmNEW’s CEO, said, “We are very excited to be entering into a
partnership with the African Development Bank and SEFA. There is a large number
of strong small or medium scale projects across Africa that remain unrealised
because they can’t access competitive financing. Our approach allows us to
bridge this gap and working with SEFA, will help us to accelerate this process
and support more high-quality projects. Together, we can bring impactful
investment to Africa, while helping the continent to meet its electrification,
carbon-reduction, and sustainable development targets.”
The Bank’s support
to EmNEW through SEFA is fully aligned with SEFA’s strategy to tackle
challenges faced by smaller renewable energy projects in many African countries
in accessing financing to cover their initial development costs, the Bank’s Acting
Director for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Daniel Schroth noted.
Drawing on high-quality
local partnerships in Africa, EmNEW invests in renewable energy projects
through competitive equity to small and medium scale projects which helps to
reduce the time and resources required to finance projects while delivering
environmental and social impact.
“Accelerated deployment of
distributed solar power and small hydropower is one of the fastest and most
cost-efficient ways to bridge the energy access gap, fight climate change and
promote sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Wale Shonibare,
the Bank’s Acting Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth.
EmNEW has regional offices
in Kenya and Ghana, with projects expected to unlock up to $500 million in
renewable energy investment, reduce CO2 emissions by 320,000 tons, create
20,000 new jobs, and eventually produce 585 GWh of clean electricity.
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