NIGERIA – Africa50, the pan-African investment platform, has invested in the 461MW Azura Edo Independent Power Production in Nigeria.
Actis is the majority shareholder in the Azura Power Company that is developing the Edo power project in Nigeria.
Africa50, on the other hand, brings significant power generation experience having invested in several key infrastructure projects across the continent representing over 1,000MW of capacity.
Raza Hasnani, Head of Infrastructure Investments at Africa50 said “We are excited to invest in a mission-critical asset within the Nigerian power market.
We have a strong institutional commitment to mobilizing capital for key African infrastructure assets, and look forward to creating value as a shareholder of Azura-Edo.”
Azura Power’s CEO, Alan Muir, commented “We are delighted to have Africa50 as an investor in our Azura Edo power plant. We are excited with the addition of such an African focused investor as one of our shareholders in Nigeria.”
Adrian Mucalov, Partner at Actis, added “We have invested over US$1billion across Africa in the electricity sector- we are deeply committed to the continent.
We take our responsibility to the countries, cities and communities in which we operate extremely seriously; and we are excited to be investing in this world-class business that is already directly contributing to the economic growth of Nigeria.”
Although in 2017 Nigeria had an official available capacity of 6,317 megawatts, the country only produces an average of around 4,500 megawatts which can at times fall to about 3,000 Megawatts.
The total installed capacity is higher with 12,522 megawatts, but the national grid is relatively small and unstable. Many of Nigeria’s 198 million people use generators for power as a result.
Government privatized much of the sector in 2013 to help kick-start the industry, but the market for electricity is still developing.
Azura-Edo power plant is Nigeria’s first large-scale project-financed IPP and provides 10+ percent of on-grid power at peak hours.
In addition, the plant meets World Bank air quality and noise level standards, and start-up time is limited to 23 minutes.
