The Hague, Netherlands
In a recent edition of The Economist’s Power Up: Delivering renewable energy in Africa¸ Climate Investor One was mentioned as a credible and necessary solution to Africa’s energy crisis. Underpinning the lack of power capacity and connectivity, Africa’s energy situation is largely characterized by a lack of available and readily deployable finance.
”’One-stop-shops’, such as developed by Climate Fund Managers (Climate Investor One) …is one way the private sector is responding. From the developer’s point of view, ‘one-stop-shops’ reduce transaction costs by providing easier access to partners, technical experts and investors, while investors benefit from lower risk profiles thanks to the portfolio diversification these facilities provide”, the article highlights.
When asked on the commitment of African governments to address the situation, CEO of Climate Fund Managers (Climate Investor One) Andrew Johnstone noted, referencing South Africa’s REIPPP (Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme) as a leading example that, “The PPP (Public Private Partnerships) Unit of the [South African] National Treasury was a massive stamp of approval and halo effect from day one, because its head and the department had a strong track record of delivering infrastructure projects.”
Mr Johnstone also commented in favour of the new federal government in Nigeria, postulating a PPP structure to replicate the scale and success of that in South Africa. “If you look at Lagos State over the last five years, that’s a jurisdiction that has done PPP’s and they know how project finance works. Some of these PPP’s are good, some are bad, but if they can supersize that at federal level then you’ve got the same sort of dynamic that the National Treasury did for the Department of Energy in South African” says Johnstone.
Through its innovative blended finance structure, Climate Investor One seeks to be one such financing facility working in the framework of African PPP’s (as well as Asian & Latin American) to enable African-led projects to reach bankability faster and with reduced cost.
For more information on Power Up: Delivering renewable energy in Africa, please follow: https://www.eiuperspectives.economist.com/sites/default/files/Power%20Up.pdf
