NIGERIA – Renewable energy developer Konexa with funding from Climate Fund Managers (CFMs) has partnered with Kaduna Electric Distribution Company (KAEDCO), to co-develop a private renewable energy generation and distribution sub-franchise project in the Kaduna state, Nigeria.
According to the press release, this integrated approach, requiring an investment of approximately US$50 million, will enable Konexa to serve the entire range of customers in its sub-franchise area – from large commercial and industrial customers that currently cannot rely on KAEDCO due to supply reliability and quality issues, to small rural customers that are not viable to be reached by the grid.
“Cli’s partnership with Konexa represents a promising opportunity to enter the Nigerian energy sector and build out the county’s renewable energy capacity,” Sebastiaan Surie, Climate Fund Managers (CFMs) head of investments for the African region, said.
“The experience of the Konexa team in the African Energy sector, combined with CFMs technical, E&S, and financial aptitude represents a fantastic opportunity to develop a high impact renewable energy project in a key market for CFM.”
“This project can have a transformational impact on the overall power sector in the country and the lives of many Nigerians that need to access affordable and reliable power for their homes and businesses.”
Pradeep Pursnani – CEO, Konexa
In the joint press release, the two companies explained that the project will consist of the development and construction of a 2.5MW solar PV plant with the potential to include a storage component, construction of eight solar mini-grids and associated distribution works.
It will also include a roll out of solar home systems, deployment of smart metering infrastructure and an integrated cutting-edge information and operations technology platform, grid network upgrades, as well as securing energy supply from nearby existing renewable generation assets.
“We are proud to be partnering with CFM on this innovative project that has the potential to catalyse large scale private sector investment to make the distribution sector in Nigeria financially viable and sustainable,” Pradeep Pursnani, Konexa’s CEO said.
“This project can have a transformational impact on the overall power sector in the country and the lives of many Nigerians that need to access affordable and reliable power for their homes and businesses.
“I am hugely grateful to the Konexa team and our partners Olaniwun Ajayi and Zutari who have been working tirelessly on this initiative for almost two years to be Nigeria’s first distribution franchise approved by the regulator.”
Pursnani also thanked the support from the donors including Shell and Rockefeller Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Power Africa and the CFM. He said with this support “we can complete some of the essential pieces of work to get us to financial close in early 2021.”
The project gives Climate Investor One (CI1) the opportunity to contribute towards Nigeria’s grid stability, accelerate the country’s sector reforms and demonstrate the private sub-franchise model. CI1’s all equity solution and technical expertise bridge development gaps and expedite project completion.
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