Access Power MEA and EREN Développement came together and launched the Access Infra Africa projects. This project will be looking at investment opportunities in renewable energy and for this reason, it has invested a total of $500 million for the course across the African continent.
Under the agreement, EREN will acquire a strategic equity stake in Access and a seat at the board of Access.This investment vehicle will be focused primarily on solar energy, focusing on supporting early renewable power projects and will be the largest privately funded vehicle of its kind.
“Access Infra Africa perfectly illustrates EREN’s strategy of developing renewable projects in areas of the world where renewable energy represents a competitive answer to growing local energy needs, such as Africa,” said David Corchia, CEO EREN. To date, EREN Développement has funded and installed more than 400 MW of renewable energy projects — the company’s project pipeline is currently home to 1.5 GW of projects.
Access Power MEA chairman, Reda El Chaar said: “Africa’s energy sector and wider economy could be transformed by the billions of dollars of financing available for Africa. However, this funding cannot have an impact without well-resourced and experienced developers willing to take early-stage project risk and turn good concepts into bankable projects.”
In this month, the Access Infra Africa consortium was prequalified by Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity to develop large scale wind and solar power plants as part of the first round of Egypt’s renewable energy procurement program.
At the end of last year, Access was awarded the contract to build, own and operate the first solar power plant in Uganda, a 10 MWp solar photovoltaic facility in Soroti, Northeastern Uganda. Once complete, the plant will be the second largest privately owned solar PV project in Africa excluding South Africa.