Mohamed Ismail Mansour, chairman of Infinity Power, examines Africa’s lucrative renewable potential and how his company is helping the continent seize this opportunity
There are few who refute Africa’s potential to play a critical role as an enabler of the energy transition and, thus, become a dominating presence in the future global power mix. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Africa is home to 60% of the best solar resources globally, the sub-Saharan region alone has 1,300GW wind energy potential and the continent has the capacity to produce 5,000 megatonnes of hydrogen per year.
With the prospects firmly established, it is now a case of realisation and setting the continent on the right path to live up to these high expectations.
One organisation that is firmly dedicated to this pursuit is Infinity Power, a company which few can match in terms of time spent in the media spotlight across 2023. The joint venture between Infinity and Masdar targets power generation projects through renewable energy sources and has been making significant waves within the African energy sector market.
Perhaps most notably, in March this year, the company completed the acquisition of Lekela Power – an independent power producer which operates 1GW of wind power projects in South Africa, Egypt and Senegal and boasts a 1.8GW project pipeline in various stages of developments. Funded through equity investment from shareholders and debt from Absa CIB and the Mauritius Commercial Bank, the initiative was part of the company’s promise at COP27 to become the fastest-growing renewable energy company in Africa and was described as “a major step forward for Africa’s future” by Nayer Fouad, CEO of Infinity Power.
Exploring the acquisition in more detail in an interview with African Review, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, chairman of Infinity Power, remarked, “I see this as a very strategic acquisition which complements our core competency base. Infinity Power has been very successful, predominantly in Egypt. Lekela brings extensive expertise around wind energy and ticks the box when it comes to market capacity. Adding this to Infinity Power helps us to develop our expertise in-house – it is a perfect fit and I have been very happy with the management team at Lekela.
“This transaction accelerates our mission in Africa which is to provide cheap electricity for communities across the continent. We have a high bar; ideally we would like a presence in all 54 countries and the combined experience of both companies (Infinity Power and Lekela) on the continent will help us to meet this ultimate mission.”
Exploring this journey, Mansour noted that the company is projected to develop, install and operate 2GW of projects by 2025 and is looking to build 10GW of capacity by 2030. While the chairman conceded these are high targets, he noted that with the dynamics of the market the way they are – and taking into account the onset of new technology and grid evolution on the continent – they are achievable.
“Our two key markets at the moment are Egypt and South Africa. We are looking at Morocco as a possible third but that decision has not been made yet. Through the Lekela acquisition, the company now is firmly established in the Senegal market as well. These are our bases across the continent from which we are looking to build and take on projects as they come.”
Find the full interview, including Mansour’s views on the opportunities offered by energy export into Europe, in the July issue of African Review here: https://www.africanreview.com/magazine-archives/african-review-july-2023
