African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Africa Fund for Africa approves a $1 million repayable grant to develop bioenergy plants in Ghana and Sierra Leone | African Development Bank

The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has approved a $1 million repayable grant to NewAfrica Impact Ltd for the preparation of two bioenergy plants in Sierra Leone and Ghana that will each produce 5 megawatts of electricity and 11 megawatts of heat.

The repayable grant will strengthen the project’s financeability by supporting technical feasibility studies and legal structuring. NewAfrica Impact is a renewable energy developer, investor and advisor.

The factories will be located together with wood processing facilities to provide biomass from sustainably grown and certified plantations. They will provide electricity and heat to the woodworking machinery and nearby industrial sites. The plant in Sierra Leone will also provide electricity to surrounding communities.

Mads Asprem, Managing Partner of NewAfrica Impact Ltd, said: “The SEFA process has already helped us raise the standard of our development work, including the environmental impact assessments, and with the approved project we will create a new efficient solution for combining the generation of energy for productive use and domestic use via mini-grids. Bioenergy provides base load electricity and uses complementary regular renewable energy sources. It also offers more positive effects than any other form of renewable energy.”

The plants are expected to add a total of 10 megawatts of electrical and 22 megawatts of thermal capacity. They will provide electricity to 5,000 households and create 125 temporary jobs during the construction phase, with an additional 60 people to operate the plants. Another 250 indirect jobs will be added, 30% of which will be for women. The project will reduce CO2 emissions by 45 ktCO2 per year.

Kevin Kariuki, Vice President of the African Development Bank for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth, said: “Bioenergy is a technology that is difficult to implement successfully on the African continent and therefore needs support from multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank. Bank. By choosing the right technology and securing raw materials in the required quality and quantity, we are confident that this project will help bioenergy emerge in Africa.”

The project aligns with the bank’s strategic goal of supporting inclusive green growth by promoting access to clean, modern, reliable and affordable energy services in rural areas and also promoting renewable energy technologies. It also aligns with Sierra Leone’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan and Ghana’s Renewable Energy Master Plan.

ABOUT SEFA

SEFA is a multi-donor dedicated fund that aims to unlock private sector investment that contributes to providing universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services for all in Africa, in line with the New Deal on Energy for The Bank’s Africa Strategy and Sustainable Development Goal 7.