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Welcome to the Green Mini-Grid Help Desk
We provide a complete information service for developers, policymakers and regulators of green mini-grids (GMGs) in Sub Saharan Africa. This website has been developed by Energy 4 Impact and INENSUS for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Africa Hub, hosted by the African Development Bank and funded through the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA).
The SE4All Africa Hub is implementing a GMG Market Development Program (GMG MDP) to facilitate the creation of a GMG movement and enabling environment across Africa. GMG MDP is part of the GMGs Africa Program which is being funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). To achieve universal access to modern energy by 2030, as prescribed by the SE4All objectives, Africa will require substantial investments into national power grids, off-grid solar home systems, and isolated mini-grids.
Energy 4 Impact
Energy 4 Impact is a UK-registered non-profit organisation which seeks to reduce poverty through accelerated access to energy. It does so by focusing on off-grid energy businesses, including mini-grids. Supported by a head office in London, most of Energy 4 Impact’s staff are based in regonal offices in Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal and Benin. In September 2021, Energy 4 Impact merged with Mercy Corps to expand its impact and scale by integrating its expertise across Mercy Corps’ operations in new contexts and geographies.
Energy 4 Impact has operated in Africa for the past 12 years, and has worked with over 100 mini-grid clients. These include private and community-owned developers and operators of village mini-grids, small independent power producers and micro-utilities, government institutions such as rural electrification authorities and electricity regulators, and development agencies and financing institutions.
Energy 4 Impact provides advice to developers on all stages of the mini-grid life cycle, including business and financial modelling, site selection, feasibility studies, community engagement, demand assessment, technical system design, capital raising, equipment procurement, construction, commissioning, and operation and maintenance. Energy 4 Impact helps mini-grid operators to grow demand and offer business, technical and financial mentorship services in the field to small productive users of mini-grids. It also pilots new mini-grid business models, conduct feasibility studies on financial support schemes, and manage grant programmes.
Energy 4 Impact deliver results. It has supported the growth of 4000 businesses, resulting in 18 million people gaining better access to energy, 15,400 jobs, and 13.4 million tonnes of CO2 being abated. The capital raised by those businesses with its support amounted to $160 million.
For more information about Energy 4 Impact please refer to www.energy4impact.org.
Inensus
Inensus is a mini-grid consulting firm which provides technical, business and policy advice based on over 13 years of experience as a mini-grid investor, developer and operator in west and east Africa. Its clients include private and public mini-grid project developers and operators, international development organizations and financiers, and governments in developing countries.
Inensus offers a wide range of mini-grid consultancy services. It provides project development services and business advice to mini-grid developers and operators across the developing world so they can become profitable businesses. It develops mini-grid policy and regulatory frameworks for governments in Africa and Asia that are designed to attract private capital, while at the same time protecting the interests of private investors and electricity customers. Inensus helps governments and public funding agencies to structure mini-grid grant programmes, including public-private partnerships and tenders, which are adapted to local conditions but meet the needs of private investors in terms of project viability and allocation of risk. Finally, Inensus offers technical due diligence and commissioning services to mini-grids to help minimise the risk of technical failure, to ensure the chosen technology meets its intended purpose, and to avoid economic losses.
Inensus is testing, developing, and successfully validating new business concepts through its mini-grid joint ventures in Tanzania (Jumeme) and Senegal (Enersa). These include its Micro Power Economy model and Key Maker Model. These joint ventures can be laboratories for the development of new business models in a local African context.
For more information about Inensus please refer to www.inensus.com.