Client:

KfW

Partners:

Triple Jump; Persistent Energy

Year:

November 2021 – ongoing [initial contract term through November 2026]

Country:

Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia.

Description:

The Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa (CEI Africa) Foundation was established by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development with additional funding from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation to improve access to energy for rural households and enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Triple Jump, Persistent Energy and GreenMax Capital Group form the managing consortium leading implementation of CEI Africa, which supports the delivery of climate-friendly electricity by financing green mini-grid developers and off-grid solar companies through two investment windows and multiple types of investments combined with technical assistance. Triple Jump is the Foundation Manager, Persistent is the Crowdlending window lead, and GreenMax is the RBF window lead.

The Crowdlending window, managed by Persistent Energy Capital, offers senior debt, junior debt, guarantees, equity, quasi-equity and technical assistance. At present, the main offerings are junior debt and TA. The Crowdlending window invests alongside crowdlenders in green mini-grid (GMG) developers and other companies providing services in the off-grid solar space, including solar home systems, commercial and industrial off-grid systems for MSMEs and service providers, pico solar PV, and solar-powered productive use of energy appliances, such as grain mills, pumps or cold storage solutions. Manufacturers, assemblers, service providers, developers and operators of distributed off-grid energy equipment and appliances are all also eligible to apply for financing. For GMGs, the current focus countries are: Benin, DRC, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali and Sierra Leone.  For other off-grid enterprises, the current focus countries are Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia.

The RBF window, managed by GreenMax Capital Group, offers RBF grants and technical assistance to GMG developers in Sub-Saharan Africa under two components – “Conventional RBF” which provides grants for verified new connections, and “Smart Outcomes” which provides grants for productive use of energy. In November 2022, the RBF window launched its first Call for Applications for new connections implemented by GMGs in Benin, DRC, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali and Sierra Leone. A second Call will be issued in Q1 2023 under the Smart Outcomes components, focused on the same countries.  GMG developers may also apply to CEI Africa’s Crowdlending window for construction, bridge and medium-term project debt.

More information about CEI Africa is available here.

The GreenMax team at the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo in Kigali, Rwanda, October 2022, where we launched three financing platforms – CEI Africa, G4A and GreenStreet Africa.