African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $5.65 million grant to fund Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) mini-grid projects across 14 African countries, aiming to provide electricity to 856,000 people.
This is contained in a statement on the bank’s website on Wednesday.
The initiative will deploy renewable energy certificates as a direct funding instrument for a portfolio of mini-grids in Africa’s most fragile and energy-poor countries, the Bank said.
Co-financed with an equal contribution of $5.65 million from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), the $11.3 million facility will be managed jointly by Camco Clean Energy, a climate and impact fund manager, and Energy Peace Partners (EPP), a US-registered non-profit that developed the Peace Renewable Energy Certificate label.
The certificates are sourced exclusively from small-scale mini-grid projects in conflict-affected and energy-poor communities and are purchased voluntarily by multinational corporations seeking to maximize the social and environmental impact of their sustainability investments.
The facility will enter long-term purchase agreements with eligible mini-grid developers across 14 frontier countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
Developers will receive upfront cash payments in exchange for the rights to the certificates produced, which the facility will then sell to global corporate buyers, channeling hard currency into markets where commercial financing is scarce.
