A microgrid investment platform has raised $25 million to deploy clean energy in rural Africa.
CrossBoundary Energy Access (CEBA) raised $25 million, backed by Bank of America, the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited.
The investment leverages an additional $25 million in senior debt to deploy $50 million of capital into CBEA’s near-term pipeline of solar and battery storage microgrids.
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CBEA first pioneered its open-source, blended project finance structure in 2019 with funding from Rockefeller Foundation, Ceniarth, DOEN Foundation, Shell Foundation, and UK Aid.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the solar microgrid sector needs $187 billion to achieve universal energy access by 2030. Meanwhile, more than 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity.
CEBA aims to deploy $150 million in capital over the next two years, which would bring clean electricity to 1 million people, they said.
William Barry, managing director of ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited’s Africa Renewable Power Fund, called microgrids a "critical component of Africa's energy future," adding that CEBA unlocks capital for these projects.
“We are excited to support them to scale," Barry said.
CEBA's model works as an owner and aggregator of microgrid assets that focuses on "high capital investment followed by low, steady yield with long payback periods" to bring electricity to rural environments.
CBEA is open-sourcing the core components of its financing approach:
- A white paper that sets out the financing structure and guiding principles, the typical challenges and risks encountered in implementing the structure in practice, possible improvements to the model, and recommendations for investors, developers, donors, and governments.
- Term sheets for the project contracts and the corresponding project finance model will be made available
