AFRICA – Serengeti Energy, a Sub-Saharan independent power producer (IPP) has secured US$20 million from Swedish Development Finance Institution to increase the production of renewable energy and promote sustainable economic development.
Serengeti Energy develops, constructs, owns and operates grid-connected renewable energy resources in a region that is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
The investment is made in a region of the world that lacks access to early-stage capital for power projects whilst simultaneously facing significant needs of additional sustainable energy capacity.
Sub-Saharan Africa still depends heavily on fossil fuelled power generation, which makes it crucial that investments in renewable generation keeps on increasing, adding environmentally and socially sustainable and cost-efficient capacity to the grid.
“By investing in Serengeti Energy, we are strengthening our already existing renewable energy portfolio with small- and medium-scale hydro and solar power in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Maria Håkansson CEO at Swedfund.
Most countries in the Sub-Saharan region have an installed generation capacity that is insufficient to meet current and future demand, underpinning the need to invest further in renewable energy sources.
In addition, a combination of favourable conditions, such as Africa being the continent with the richest solar resources in the world and falling costs for equipment, is driving the build-out of renewable energy capacity.
This investment gives Swedfund an opportunity to contribute to sustainable economic development, including climate change mitigation, by supporting access to reliable and affordable renewable energy.
It also enables Swedfund to support a further strengthening of Serengeti Energy’s Environmental, Social and Governance processes within climate, biodiversity, and gender.
Serengeti Energy is well-known within the Development Finance Institution sphere with previous equity raised from the German Development Bank, KfW, the Norwegian Development Finance Institution, Norfund and the Nordic Development Fund, NDF.
Swedfund will provide its capital as part of a structured fund raise of US$80 million, alongside the French Development Finance Institution Proparco and STOA, a French impact fund.
Serengeti Energy is a medium-sized African Independent Power Producer established in 2013. The company focuses on investing in, and co-developing, small to medium-sized grid connected renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa with a primary focus on small-scale hydro and solar as well as wind power.
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