Ilute Solar Limited (FMO-63963)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Zambia
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
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
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 25, 2025
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
Ilute Solar Limited
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)
$ 3.48 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)
$ 3.48 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.
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Sep 15, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Aug 15, 2024

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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.

According to the information provided on the project disclosure page, FMO is Mandated Lead Arranger for a debt package consisting of i) a senior debt tranche (sized conservatively assuming reduced market risk); ii) a senior tranche from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), managed by AfDB (same terms as senior debt with a concessional interest rate); and iii) a sub-senior tranche funded from Building Prospects, a government fund managed by FMO (assumes market risk and absorbs tariff fluctuations).

In southern Africa, there is a clear trend of moving away from classical PPAs with government-owned utilities towards a regional merchant model. This has the potential to unlock vast new amounts of renewable energy in the region, as supply and demand can be balanced regionally, and the success of projects no longer depends on the performance of local utilities. Ilute is poised to be the first operational project to sell power on SAPP under a GreenCo PPA. Through the involvement of GreenCo, tariffs are stabilized within a certain bandwidth, avoiding pure merchant risk. This transaction is fully aligned with FMO's 100% Green and 100% Reducing Inequalities labels. It enabled FMO to mobilize approximately USD 18.5 million, including USD 5 million from commercial banks.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the FMO, Ilute Solar Limited (the Borrower) is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) holding the 25MWac solar power project developed by Serengeti Energy Ltd (https://serengeti.energy/) and Western Solar Power Ltd (www.buffaloenergy.co), both the Sponsors. Power will be sold under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GreenCo Power Services Ltd, acting as an intermediary off-taker that purchases power from Renewable Energy (RE) Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and sells that electricity to utilities and private sector off-takers via the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Serengeti Energy Ltd. Client Energy contracts with Africa GreenCo Group Limited Buyer Energy
Western Solar Power Limited Client Energy contracts with Serengeti Energy Ltd. Client Energy

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.

Client - Ilute Solar Limited:

Address: ABC Towers, 4th Floor Waiyaki Way, Westlands Nairobi, Postal Address: 293-00623
Phone: +254 115 546 710
Email: info@serengeti.energy
Website: https://serengeti.energy/ 

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