ENERGY ACCESS RELIEF FUND (FMO-58816)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Aug 3, 2021
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Social Investment Managers & Advisors, LLC (SIMA)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 2.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Jan 18, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Nov 6, 2020

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Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

The Energy Access relief Fund ('EARF") will be a newly created debt fund to provide Covid19 relief funding to Access to Energy Companies (offgrid SHS, clean cooking and Minigrid companies). This fund will be established and managed by Social Investment Managers & Advisors, LLC (SIMA). EARF aims to become a US$100M fund with FMO participating in the first close of ~US$35-40M, together with multiple stakeholders.

The EARF aims to address two main barriers: (1) offer liquidity to preserve and support the access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all and (2) help stabilize the energy access sector by providing security for local clean energy jobs.

Lack of energy and financial access to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) and businesses continues to hold back social and economic development in (particularly) SSA. Today, the impact of Covid19 in LDC countries could jeopardise the progress made so far towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 of Affordable and Clean Energy. This fund aims at protecting this progress by contributing to a positive economic, social and environmental impact, while providing the much needed relief capital today.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RATIONALE

This transaction is labelled as E&S risk category B. The fund focuses primarily on companies providing Access to Energy (offgrid SHS and minigrids) to the Bottom of the Pyramid. The fund has a well-defined E&S policy, that aligns to IFC PS and will not undertake projects classified as E&S category A.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

South Africa
+27 11 507 2500
joburg-office@fmo.nl

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

How it works

How it works