The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) program has signed its first agreements in Uganda to support the expansion and scale-up of high-quality solar home systems. The projects will scale up energy access in rural and peri-urban areas in the country with the help of results-based financing provided from the program.
The first projects have been signed with d.light Design Uganda and ENGIE Energy Access Uganda. The total value of the two first agreements is approx. EUR 5.2 million, enabling the establishment of up to 370,000 high-quality energy service connections, which will benefit approx. 1.8 million people.
d.light is a local solar distributor in Uganda, established in 2016 as an operational subsidiary of the d.light Group. The company enables reliable power through solar energy solutions with a Pay-As-You-Go business model. The company has sold over 25 million products, including solar lanterns, solar home systems, TVs, radios and smartphones. d.light is planning to distribute 200,000 new high-quality, clean and affordable solar home systems in its existing areas of operation in the country and to grow its distribution partnerships in new geographic areas of Uganda.
“Our 2030 goal is to help transform the lives of 1 billion people through access to our sustainable products. We are very excited to partner with the BGFA program to expand our activities in Uganda. The received financing will enable us to scale up energy access faster in rural areas of Uganda, benefiting approx. 1 million people,” comments Nick Imudia, CEO at d.light.
“We are very happy to support d.light Uganda to help the company scale up access to affordable off-grid solar home systems in the country. With the results-based financing from the BGFA program, this project will contribute to improving the quality of life of people living in rural and peri-urban areas in Uganda,” says Aliona Fomenco, Program Manager at Nefco.
ENGIE Energy Access Uganda (previously Fenix International) was established in 2013 as a subsidiary of the French mother company ENGIE. ENGIE Energy Access Uganda has sold over 700,000 solar home systems in Uganda, bringing clean, reliable power for lights, phones, radios and TVs. Now, the company intends to further scale up its existing business activities by setting up, up to 170,000 new high-quality energy service subscriptions to customers in rural and peri-urban areas of Uganda. The company will provide energy services through sales of solar home systems at affordable prices and scale at a pace that would not be possible without the BGFA funding.
“We are excited to partner with BGFA over the next four years and improve the lives of over 800,000 people with our solar entry-level kits. Thanks to the use of digital tools and strong penetration of mobile money in sub-Saharan Africa, we sell access to energy products to our customers on credit to make them affordable. With the much-needed support from impact investors such as BGFA, we will be able to provide sustainable, renewable energy to communities that are most vulnerable and help them climb the energy ladder,” comments Gillian-Alexandre Huart, CEO of ENGIE Energy Access.
“We are very happy to continue our cooperation with ENGIE Energy Access with this new project in Uganda and support its business expansion and scale-up of solar home systems on the market and the creation of approx. 170,000 new energy connections,” says Kari Hämekoski, Senior Program Manager at Nefco.
The supported projects will help to improve the affordability of off-grid energy products in Uganda. From a longer-term perspective, the projects will increase job opportunities, enable better quality education and support the transformation of increased usage of renewable energy sources. In addition to these first two projects, Nefco is currently negotiating further project agreements also with local Ugandan companies. The BGFA expansion in Uganda is financed by Denmark and Sweden.
The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa has so far contracted 13 projects: 2 from Uganda (BGFA3) and 11 from its first funding round in Burkina Faso, Liberia and Zambia (BGFA1). Further projects are under negotiation from both BGFA1 and BGFA3. The latest and fourth funding round (BGFA4) opened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June 2022 and launched its second stage of the application process earlier in November, inviting successful applicants to submit their Final Applications.
Image credit: d.light