GVE DARES

pending

GVE Utilities Limited - a wholly owned special purpose vehicle of Green Village Electricity Utilities Limited (“GVE” or the “Company”) was founded in 2009 and incorporated in 2012 as a renewable energy company focused on the unserved and underserved clientele across Nigeria. The Company currently has a solar energy installed capacity of approximately 10.3MWp (including 20 mini grids, 1000+solar home systems and rooftop solar to health, industrial and educational institutions), serving more than 650,000 people and 8,000 businesses across eight states in Nigeria – Rivers, Niger, Gombe, Anambra, Kogi, Plateau, Akwa Ibom and FCT – Federal Capital Territory. The mini grids alone have achieved approximately 21,000 connections. IFC intends to support the World Bank (WB) financed Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (“WB Nigeria DARES”) project (P179687) through a proposed investment of a 4-year revolving facility (“IFC DARES Platform” or the “Platform”). This investment aims to support up to 20 eligible mini-grid Renewable Service Companies (RESCOs) and Solar to Home Service (SHS) companies (“Clients”) participating in WB Nigeria DARES by part-financing the construction and operationalization of isolated and/or interconnected mini-grids or sales of SHS in rural or remote communities. It builds on the achievements of the WB financed Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), which has supported the establishment of 175 mini-grids and the sale of over 1.1 million Solar Home Systems, with more than 7.8 million Nigerians gaining access to electricity. The proposed IFC investment consists of a revolving loan of up to USD12 million to GVE to partly finance the company’s 4-year capital expenditure plan to construct and operate 41 mini grids with a cumulative photovoltaic (PV) capacity of 7.0 MW across eight states in Nigeria’s Northern, Eastern and Middle-Belt regions (the “Project”). The mini-grids sites will comprise i) installed PV solar power of between 29 - 830kWp capacity; ii) lead acid battery storage of between 160 – 2,150Wh capacity; iii) diesel generator sets of between 20 - 800kVA capacity, and; iv) local low voltage power distribution network without transformers. The loan shall be secured entirely through an assignment of amounts due to GVE under the WB Nigeria DARES Project. Proceeds from IFC financing will only be used for the construction and operation of the 41 mini grids. The mini grids will mostly be in villages in Anambra, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, and Taraba states, on small plots of land of ~ 0.25ha – 1.00ha depending on the capacity of the mini grid, purchased through lease from individuals and Voluntary Land Donation, as defined in the WB Nigeria DARES Land Donation Guidelines and in compliance with IFC PS5 voluntary-transaction principles, with community consent documented. The construction period of each mini-grid system is around 36 weeks with several sites being developed concurrently in batches and construction, and operation and maintenance (O&M) phase will be managed in-house by the Company.