Multinational - Powergen Solar Mini-Grids Expansion (AFDB-P-Z1-FF0-033)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Nigeria
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • African Development Bank (AFDB)
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
U
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
Nov 17, 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
PowerGen (PG)
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)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 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.
Grant Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 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 @ AFDB website

Updated in EWS Jun 10, 2025

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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.

As stated on the AfDB's project disclosure page (translated with DeepL.com), this project focuses on mobilizing equity and capital on preferential terms to step up the deployment of new energy connections, adding around 33 MW of new solar capacity and creating around 67500 new connections, mainly in Nigeria and the DRC.

The project aims to benefit over 313,000 people, install 33 MW of new solar capacity and reduce emissions by almost 473,000 tCO2e. It also intends to create around 1074 direct jobs in the construction sector and around 1097 long-term jobs (with specific targets for women and young people).

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 on the AfDB's project disclosure page (translated with DeepL.com), PowerGen (PG) is one of the leading private developers and operators of decentralized solar power in sub-Saharan Africa, with 7.1 MW of installed renewable energy (rural mini-grids, interconnected urban grids and commercial and industrial projects) in 12 countries, and around 31500 mini-grid connections in three countries (Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria) under management.

Established in 2011 as an RE company in Kenya, PG has gained extensive experience and a track record to become a leading off-grid RE developer in East Africa. Having started as an EPC provider in 2015, PG launched its mini-grids business and has since strongly influenced the sector's development. Historically, PG built mini-grids under EPC contracts for many clients. Still, in 2021, PG shifted to a build-own-operate (BOO) business model to achieve longer-term financial sustainability.
Today, PG manages a portfolio of 182 sites in 3 countries - Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Kenya - with c. 4MW of solar capacity installed. PG has built c. 4,200 mini-grid connections across 53 sites (c. 2.2MW) and 25 C&I projects (c. 0.83MW) for third parties. PG aims to become a leading decentralised RE-based utility in Africa, building on its strong track record and experience.
Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - PowerGen Renewable Energy 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.

AfDB Team Leader:

Benjamin Curnier
Email: b.curnier@afdb.org 

Gabriele Pammesberger
Email: not available at the time of disclosure

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/

How it works

How it works