Essor Hybrid Solar Mini-Grids

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A Gridworks-led consortium has signed 3 concession agreements with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the $100 million Essor A2E project. The 22-year agreements entail the development of 3 large-scale solar-hybrid and off-grid utility projects for 3 cities in northern DRC – under the special purpose vehicle (SPV) Moyi Power. The 3 cities that will benefit from the projects are Bumba, Gemena and Isiro. The consortium will initially develop 14MW of solar power. The members of the sponsor consortium are Gridworks, AEE Power and Eranove. Debt provider is the African development bank, which provided a $20 million loan. The Rockefeller foundation, SEFA and PIDG each provided respectively $15, $10 and $10 million in grants for the development of the project. Financial close took place on June 4th, 2021. The Essor A2E project is a technical assistance programme funded and launched by the UK government.