ImpactAlpha, January 3 — AXIAN Energy has secured a $30 million debt investment from the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, a $1 billion investment arm of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, which is funded by donors from the UK, Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany and the World Bank.
AXIAN, a former oil gas distributor will use the investment to acquire and develop utility-scale solar projects in Senegal, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda and other countries.
The loan will “propel our transition to renewable energy,” said AXIAN’s Benjamin Memmi, and support AXIAN’s goal of developing more than 460 megawatts of renewable generation capacity in Africa over the next decade.
With higher interest rates and construction costs, said Tidiane Doucoure of EAIF, “developers in emerging markets need more than ever the support of financiers to think outside the box in order to address the many obstacles faced.”
Green infrastructure
EAIF provides senior debt for infrastructure projects in markets in Africa and Asia that lack strong private investment flows. For example, EAIF committed to underwrite the bulk of Zambia’s $53.5 million green bond to finance up to 200 megawatts of solar and other renewable energy projects.
The fund said it was able to scale back its $50 million commitment to $20 million when the bond attracted local private investors, including ABSA, a commercial bank based in South Africa.
