African Trade Insurance Agency supports US$67mn solar plant in Malawi

The Nkhotakota Solar Power Plant, one of Malawi’s first commercial scale independent solar power projects, is expected to add a significant 37 MWac of clean energy to the national capacity, currently estimated at 362 MWac. The solar plant, which is being developed in two phases of 21 MWac and 16 MWac, is the second renewable energy project to be backed by the African Trade Insurance Agency’s (ATI) Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF). ATI, through the RLSF, is providing liquidity cover for a tenor of up to 10 years. The completed project will supply electricity for up to 150,000 Malawian households.

The first project to benefit from RLSF was a partnership with Gigawatt Global on Burundi’s first private grid-connected solar plant, which was the country’s first permanent power station in 30 years. RLSF encourages investments in renewable energy in ATI member countries through a unique and innovative guarantee product that protects Independent Power Producers (IPPs) against the risk of late payment by national power companies.

The Nkhotakota Solar Power Plant is part of the Malawian government’s plan to move the country from its reliance on hydropower, which currently represents over 90% of its energy mix. Hydropower has left the country vulnerable to frequent power supply cuts in times of drought. The solar power plant aims to provide a more sustainable solution for stable and consistent energy access. 

The project stems from Malawi’s first competitive tender in the power sector leading to a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between the Project Company and Malawi’s national utility, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (ESCOM), in February 2019. The successful tender process demonstrates global best practise and serves as a potential model for the region in attracting critical foreign direct investment to the sector.

The international consortium behind the project consists of two project developers, Kenya-based responsAbility Renewable Energy Holding (rAREH), the primary equity partner providing equity financing and UAE-based Phanes Group. The two developers are collaborating with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) – formerly the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – which is contributing debt financing, and Natsons which is the local development partner.

The Facility can be accessed by IPPs located in countries that sign onto the RLSF Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). To date, seven countries have signed on – Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, with several others in the pipeline including Ethiopia and Ghana. ATI is actively encouraging other countries to sign on as a way of providing more cost-effective and clean energy solutions.

Benjamin Mugisha, chief underwriting officer, ATI, said, “COVID-19 has laid bare the link between social infrastructure and economic development. Access to adequate electricity underpins both. This project demonstrates that there is still opportunity and demand for renewable energy projects in Africa. ATI is excited to be part of this potentially transformative project, particularly now, when it is so important to show the world that it is still possible to build sound renewable energy projects that can have lasting change.”    

Dr Thomas Duve, director, southern Africa, KfW, added, “The investments required to meet Africa´s growing demand for sustainable energy based on renewables is far greater than the funds available from public sources. But African governments and their development partners can facilitate the private sector investments necessary to bridge this gap. Together, we can build stable, predictable enabling frameworks and we can offer targeted de-risking instruments. KfW’s support with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to the RLSF demonstrates our commitment to this process, and to the development of a sustainable energy market in Africa. Only with that in place can we address the fundamental challenges of energy access, energy security and climate change.”