New Markets Investor

Q3 2015Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project Sierra Leonejects have reached financialclose and 46 are now deliveringa range of new and improvedservices in power, transport,agri-infrastructure, and manufacturingto local people andbusinesses. 37 PIDG projectsin Africa are now operationaland providing services on theground. These projects are providingnew or improved accessto infrastructure for over 106million Africans, while 4,966and 24,514 are benefiting fromshort and long term employmentrespectively as a direct resultof the PIDG intervention.These projects are also boostingeconomic developmentthrough the provision of vitalinfrastructure services, anddemonstrate to more conservativeinvestors that such projectsare commercially viable..The environment PIDG operatesin inevitably continues tobe shaped by the after-effects ofthe global financial crisis andunderscores the importanceof the work PIDG undertakes.The impact of the financial crisiswas felt globally. In Africa,it has confirmed the urgency ofmassive and sustained effort toimprove infrastructure developmentacross the region.While there are deficits in spendingacross the full range of African infrastructurerequirements, by far the largestinvestment and need is in the energy sector.According to the World Bank Group,sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries (witha combined population of 800 million)generate the same amount of power asSpain (45 million). Power cuts are a regularfeature of daily life in many Africancountries; rural communities in particularare without access to power or enduresporadic, unpredictable supplies.Reliable and cost-effective supplies of energywill be essential for countries acrossAfrica to participate and benefit fromincreased trade and economic growth. Itis especially, a vital necessity for SMEs.Recognizing the need for investment inenergy, Green Africa Power (GAP) is thelatest PIDG Facility to be established.Open for business in November 2014,it is a mezzanine-financing fund. It isdesigned to address key market failuresin the power sector to stimulate privatesector investment in renewable energyby reducing the overall cost of capital forenergy generation projects, maintainingcommercial returns.GAP has an ambitious target to finance240MW of renewable energy generationcapacity, saving 9 million tonnes of carbonemissions and improving the supplyof clean energy to millions in sub-Saha-New Markets Investor31