Press release -
Large investment for renewable energy capacity buildout in Africa
Swedish Development Finance Institution Swedfund invests 20 MUSD in Serengeti Energy, a Sub-Saharan independent power producer which develops, constructs, owns and operates grid-connected renewable energy resources in a region that is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Swedfund’s investment is expected to increase the production of renewable energy and promote sustainable economic development. The investment is made in a region of the world that lacks access to early-stage capital for power projects whilst simultaneously facing significant needs of additional sustainable energy capacity.
- Sub-Saharan Africa still depends heavily on fossil fuelled power generation, which makes it crucial that investments in renewable generation keeps on increasing, adding environmentally and socially sustainable and cost-efficient capacity to the grid. By investing in Serengeti Energy, we are strengthening our already existing renewable energy portfolio with small- and medium-scale hydro and solar power in Sub-Saharan Africa, says Maria Håkansson CEO at Swedfund.
Most countries in the Sub-Saharan region have an installed generation capacity that is insufficient to meet current and future demand, underpinning the need to invest further in renewable energy sources. In addition, a combination of favourable conditions, such as Africa being the continent with the richest solar resources in the world and falling costs for equipment, is driving the build-out of renewable energy capacity.
This investment gives Swedfund an opportunity to contribute to sustainable economic development, including climate change mitigation, by supporting access to reliable and affordable renewable energy. It also enables Swedfund to support a further strengthening of Serengeti Energy’s Environmental, Social and Governance processes within climate, biodiversity, and gender.
Serengeti Energy is well-known within the Development Finance Institution sphere with previous equity raised from the German Development Bank, KfW, the Norwegian Development Finance Institution, Norfund and the Nordic Development Fund, NDF.
Swedfund will provide its capital as part of a structured fund raise of USD 80m, alongside the French Development Finance Institution Proparco and STOA, a French impact fund.
Serengeti Energy is a medium-sized African Independent Power Producer established in 2013. The company focuses on investing in, and co-developing, small to medium-sized grid connected renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa with a primary focus on small-scale hydro and solar as well as wind power.
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About Swedfund
Swedfund is Sweden's development finance institution with the mission to contribute to poverty reduction through sustainable investments in developing countries. Our investments in the private sector contribute to a growing number of jobs offering decent working conditions and increases access to essential products and services like electricity and healthcare. Climate and gender are themes that permeates our investment process.
Swedfund invests in energy & climate, financial inclusion and increased access to capital for micro, small and medium-sized companies as well as healthcare and digitalization.
We are part of Swedish development corporation, and we measure and report all our results. As a state-owned company, Swedfund is managed by the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation. We are financed through reflows from the portfolio and capital injections from the development assistance budget. The return from the portfolio finances our operations and we reinvest reflows from our portfolio in new projects, i.e. we recycle our capital injections.
For more information: please visit www.swedfund.se/en| www.edfi.eu
