New $11.3 Million Facility to Bring Clean Energy to Nearly a Million People in Africa’s Conflict Zones
The African Development Bank Group has approved a $5.65 million grant to pilot a first-of-its-kind financing mechanism designed to solve one of clean energy’s most stubborn problems: getting capital into places where commercial lenders won’t go.
The Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) Aggregation Facility, co-financed with an equivalent contribution from the Nordic Development Fund, will direct a combined $11.3 million toward mini-grid developers operating in conflict-affected and energy-poor communities across Africa. The facility is expected to connect roughly 856,000 people to reliable electricity for the first time, around half of them women.
The countries targeted include Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and eight others where fragility and conflict have historically made energy investment nearly impossible to finance.
The mechanism works by converting corporate climate commitments into upfront cash for developers on the ground. Mini-grid operators in qualifying countries will enter long-term purchase agreements with the facility, receiving advance payments in exchange for the renewable energy certificates their projects generate. Those certificates are then sold to multinational companies seeking to direct their sustainability spending toward high-impact regions.
Managed by climate fund manager Camco Clean Energy and US non-profit Energy Peace Partners, which developed the P-REC label, the facility aims to generate approximately 71 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity through around 240,000 new connections.
The initiative is framed as a direct response to a persistent financing gap. While mini-grids are widely seen as the most viable solution for rural electrification across Africa, developers in fragile states routinely struggle to close funding rounds as commercial lenders shy away from conflict-exposed markets.
The facility is designed to feed into Mission 300, the joint African Development Bank and World Bank programme targeting electricity access for 300 million Africans by 2030. It represents a bet that unlocking private corporate capital, rather than relying solely on development aid, can help bridge the gap.
João Duarte Cunha, Manager of the Renewable Energy Funds Division at the African Development Bank, described the initiative as “the kind of market-making needed to advance Mission 300 objectives,” adding that the facility tests a new climate finance product capable of opening new commercial funding streams for privately-led mini-grids.
Sherwin Das, Managing Director of Energy Peace Partners, pointed to the broader stakes: beyond electricity access, the initiative is premised on evidence that clean energy infrastructure in conflict-affected areas can improve health, education and security outcomes.
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