African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa
Deadline: Rolling Basis
The African Development Bank manages the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a multi-donor Special Fund. It provides catalytic financing to stimulate private-sector investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. SEFA provides technical support and concessional financing mechanisms to remove market obstacles, establish a more robust project pipeline, and optimize the risk-return profile of individual investments. The Fund’s primary purpose is to contribute to universal access to cheap, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy services for all Africans, in accordance with the New Deal on Energy for Africa and SDG 7.
SEFA is housed in the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department (PERN) under the Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth (PEVP) complex.
Notable achievements:
SEFA has spearheaded the African Development Bank’s engagement in green mini-grids, through the Market Development Program and country-focused support to create an enabling investment environment. Through these initiatives, SEFA has paved the way for the Bank to finance its first two scale-up green energy programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso.
SEFA also develops flagship blended-finance initiatives in the sector. It played a catalytic role in the preparation and financial close of the Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF)– one of the first pan-African equity funds in the market. It also played a key role in establishing the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI)(link is external) – a debt financing platform for small-scale renewables across the continent.
Scope:
SEFA supports interventions across three strategic priorities:
- Green baseload: Increasing the penetration of renewable energy in power systems, with a strong focus on power system stability, and delivering alternatives to fossil-fuel baseload generation options.
- Green mini-grids: Accelerating electricity access to underserved populations through clean energy mini-grid solutions.
- Energy efficiency: Improving the efficiency of energy services delivered through a variety of technologies and business models, also including clean cooking and pico-solar technologies
Benefits:
- Technical assistance: Support through grants with a strong focus on activities that will directly unlock investments. Technical assistance grants are available to public and private sector entities.
- Concessional investment: Support through results-based financing, loans, and equity instruments, often blended with African Development Bank investments to close viability gaps.
Eligibility:
Funding requests must be aligned with SEFA’s three strategic priorities:
- Green Baseload;
- Green Mini-Grids
- Energy Efficiency.
Special attention will be given to proposals which:
- are implemented in countries with limited renewable energyexperience;
- present demonstration and replication potential, with “first-of-a-kind” features;
- provide cross-cutting benefits across several domains such as agriculture, education, food, gender, health, and water.
Due consideration will also be given to aspects of economic and financial viability, namely through strong alignment with national plans and strategies, cost-competitiveness and quality of service, and ability to generate returns and attract additional investors.
Finally, applications will be assessed across a range of indicators and anticipated development outputs and outcomes, including:
- commercial finance leveraged by the project;
- MW of sustainable energy generation installed (and/or degree of energy efficiency achieved);
- new jobs created, disaggregated by gender, and;
- annual GHG emission reductions delivered.
