Social Investment Managers and Advisors (SIMA) has launched the Energy Access Relief Fund (EARF) with a first closure of $68 million and a target closing of about $84 million by the end of the year. The fund intends to help off-grid solar firms and ensure that over 20 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia have access to energy. SIMA will use this fund to give relief loans to institutions who are experiencing financial issues due to COVID-19 disruptions.
About 90-100 energy access firms who had a sustainable business model before to the beginning of COVID-19 would receive subordinated funding with a subsidised interest rate of up to 5%, a medium term (up to 3.5 years), and no collateral from the Energy Access Relief Fund. Furthermore, by the first quarter of 2022, the support may expand to a total of 110-120 firms, with a target close of $84 million. CDC, FMO, DFC, Green Climate Fund, Acumen, Shell Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, United States Agency for International Deployment, UK Aid, International Finance Corporation, World Bank, and SIDA all contributed to the fund’s closure.
In June 2021, the Africa Renewable Energy Fund II (AREF II) raised Euro 130 million from seven investors to finance renewable energy development in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. The investors in the AREF II include the Swedish government’s Swedfund, the UK government’s CDC Group, CDP, and the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. Proparco, the subsidiary of the French Development Agency (AFD) group, also participated in the first financial mobilisation of AREF II. The new fund is being managed by Berkeley Energy and is also supported by the Netherlands Development Finance Company, and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which is part of the Climate Investment Fund (CIF).
