Multinational - The COVID-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform (CRP)

The COVID-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform (CRP) is a landmark initiative of the Bank approved in December 2020 to provide relief and recovery capital to energy access (EA) companies, to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while advancing access to clean electricity and promote a more viable and robust sector post-crisis. CRP was initially established as a US$50 million blended finance platform anchored in a US$20 million SEFA concessional loan to be blended and co-invested with US$30 million in commercial funding from three specialized energy access lenders (CRP Partners) selected through a competitive process: Triple Jump (managing the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund), Lion’s Head Global Partners (managing the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Fund)and Social Investment Managers and Advisors (managing SIMA Fund IandSIMA Angaza Distributor Finance Fund). Despite resilience of the sector, energy access companies continue to face operational disruptions, business uncertainty and liquidity constrains as a result of the extended impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine. In this context, AfDB approved a US$20 million top-up of the platform -CRP phase II –to continue the original programme and facilitate the provision of affordable debt products to EA companies.