Promoting investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency in - PDF document

Promoting investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency in East Africa COUNTRY EAST AFRICA INVESTMENT TYPE ENERGY EFFICIENCY, RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT TYPE SUNREF PROJECT Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance (SUNREF) East Africa Credit line With Support from: This program is co-financed by European Union. The opinions stated in the present document shall in no way be taken as the official position of the EU

SUNREF East Africa promotes development of a low carbon economy in the region by financing the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. To support private investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) supports local banks in allocating green credit in favorable conditions (low interest rates, long tenor, grace period) for tailored made debt. The energy mix in East Africa is based on the massive use of biomass and low-performing energy yield. In a context where access to energy is far from universal, increasing the production of green energies is a key condition to a sustainable economic growth in this area. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are deploying policies to transition towards a sustainable energy model including both renewable energy and energy efficiency. Aware of these challenges, AFD actively supports the transition towards a greener model in those three countries by partnering with green finance actors (banks, companies, pub lic authorities, donors…). The aim of the SUNREF (Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) program, AFD’s green finance label, is to facilitate access to affordable sustainable energy in order to boost green growth, and the fight against global warming. SUNREF East Africa helps private actors in East African countries seize the opportunities of the ecological transition and encourages local banks to finance it on customized financial terms. To optimize the energy consumption of the private sector and reduce its ecological footprint in East Africa, AFD supports, under SUNREF, green investment projects and encourages East African banks to finance the sectors of renewable energy and energy efficiency. After a first phase initiated with Co- operative Bank of Kenya in 2011 for an amount of 30M€, the SUNREF program was extended to other financial institutions in 2013/14 with an additional 126 M€ of financing commitment shared between various financial institutions in the three countries. The second round of financial partners includes in Kenya Diamond Trust Bank, Commercial Bank of Africa, Chase Bank, Uganda Diamond Trust Bank and Bank of Africa Tanzania. The program aims at integrating other banks in a near future. In total its represents a cumulated commitment amount over 150 M€ to finance green investments in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda). SUNREF East Africa includes a technical assistance for companies and banks to assist them in identifying opportunities for green investments, installation and monitoring of projects, selection of the most appropriate technologies, and as for the partner banks, supporting their risk assessment approach, communication strategy and marketing in green finance. The 2

STTA40-Cover report technical assistance has also a general mandate of awareness raising and capacity building in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. The objectives of this innovative partnership for green finance are:  To develop the share of renewable energy in the energy mix in East Africa  To improve the energy efficiency for companies  To encourage local banks to increase their lending activities towards low-carbon projects SUNREF East Africa finances small and mid-sized renewable power plants built by companies and by independent energy service providers. It also serves to integrate energy efficient solutions in high energy consuming industries and supports energy savings companies (ESCOs) to provide affordable energy solutions to manufacturing and processing businesses. This innovative range of services consequently gives the private sector greater access to bank financing to purchase better quality equipment, and thereby makes savings and increases its competitiveness, thanks to better energy management and by taking into account environmental considerations. Since 2011, 11 SUNREF East Africa projects have been successfully implemented in two subsequent phases. Thanks to SUNREF East Africa, AFD is supporting the countries of the region concerned to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and their energy dependence towards external suppliers through the use of local resources. SUNREF East Africa is promoting a sustainable socio-economic and environmentally friendly development. TOTAL AMOUNT EUROS 156 MILLIONS  67 399 teq CO2/year saved  Electricity savings: 3,19 GWh/year  Green capacity installed: 22,79 MW 3