A whooping US $58m has been allocated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF) in Nigeria.
The bank disclosed that the Fund is part of the bank’s sponsored Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), a US $500m debt platform to catalyse capital markets support for innovative energy access strategies.
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A report from the bank stated that OGEF’s first close follows the official launch of FEI at the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) on 5-6 July 2018, where the initiative was presented to representatives of five African countries, including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Egypt and Zambia – as well as leaders from the private sector and the development partner communities.
The AfDB’s Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Amadou Hott, explained confirmed the reports as well and said that FEI is part of a broader Bank strategy to unlock more financing in decentralized energy companies, which also entails direct investments in market leaders, lines of credit for local Banks and programmatic support to countries in scaling-up their energy access agendas.
The off-grid revolution
“We will keep pushing the ‘off-grid revolution’ in the African continent to achieve universal energy access by 2025,” said Amadou Hott
According to the bank, OGEF has received significant technical and financial support from key its partners like the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, the United States Government’s Power Africa initiative and the Shell Foundation.
“The energy access sector demonstrates the vibrancy and innovation in Africa for market solutions to fundamental challenges. LHGP is excited to be the manager of OGEF and engage local capital markets towards the goal of connecting millions of households to electricity”, said Clemens Calice, LHGP Partner.
