Husk Minigrids (IFC-47529)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Nigeria
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, and Gome
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
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
Jun 28, 2024
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
Husk Power Energy Systems Nigeria Ltd.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
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)
$ 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
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jun 25, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 24, 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 IFC, the proposed investment consists of a revolving loan of up to USD 5m to Husk Power Energy Systems Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Husk Power Systems (HPS) Inc. The proceeds will be used to part finance a 3-year capex plan to construct and operate ~300 mini-grids with an aim to connect 50,000+ off-grid consumers by 2027.
Each mini-grid will consist of a 50kWp solar-hybrid system with a 180kWh lead acid battery storage component, a 60kVA genset and a small local low voltage Transmission and Distribution (T&D) network without transformers.

The loan shall be secured entirely through an assignment of amounts due to Husk Nigeria under the World Bank (WB) financed Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (“DARES”) project (P179687). The DARES project builds on the achievements of the WB financed Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), which has supported the establishment of 125 mini-grids and the sale of over a million Solar Home Systems, through which more than 5.5 million Nigerians have gained access to electricity. The mini-grids will mostly be in villages, on small plots of land of ~ 0.25ha, leased from communities or households for a 25-year period. The construction period of each mini-grid system is around 4 weeks and construction, and operation and maintenance (O&M) will be managed in-house by the Company. To date, the Company has installed 30 mini-grids in a couple of states including Nasarawa state, and is in the process of identifying sites across several other states including Plateau, Kwara, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, and Gome.

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

As stated on the project disclosure page, IFC as implementing entity of the Canada-IFC Renewable Energy Program for Africa is expected to provide up to US$2.5 million in the form of a subordinated concessional loan.

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 IFC, Husk Power Energy Systems Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary of Husk Power Systems Inc..
Husk is one of the leading mini grids developers/operators, with a primary focus on rural communities. Husk initially started operations in India in 2008 and entered Nigeria in 2020. Globally, Husk has 270+ mini grid sites including 30 sites in Nigeria. Total installed capacity is 9MW. Husk’s mini grids are hybrid mini grids which combine solar photovoltaic panels, battery energy storage systems, and diesel generators, and normally are operated independently (i.e. the mini grids are not connected to the main electricity grid). 

Husk Nigeria is 99.99% owned by Husk Power System Inc Mauritius and less than 0.1% by Husk’s CEO Manoj Sinha. Husk Mauritius is 100% owned by HPS. The three largest shareholders of HPS are Shell Ventures, STOA Infra & Energy Impact Fund, and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Royal Dutch Shell plc Investor Energy invests in Husk Power Systems Inc. Client Energy
STOA Investment Fund Investor Finance invests in Husk Power Systems Inc. Client Energy
U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Investor Finance invests in Husk Power Systems Inc. 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.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

Cient - Husk Power Energy Systems Nigeria Limited:

Manoj Sinha - Group Chief Executive Officer
Phone: +234 800 313 4522
Email: info@huskpowersystems.com
Address: 25, Ndola Crescent Wuse, Abuja 904101, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria
Website: https://huskpowersystems.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works