Moyi Power, a US$340 million private sector-led electrification project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has formally started the financing process to raise the debt and grant funding needed to start construction of the project.
The landmark ‘metro-grid’ project will bring clean, reliable, and affordable electricity to over one million people in three isolated cities in northern DRC, a country where less than 20% of the population currently has access to electricity – a figure which falls to only 1% in the regions Moyi Power is targeting.
With a focus on providing electricity access and supporting economic growth in isolated cities in and around the Congo basin, Moyi Power will build and operate greenfield, hybrid-solar utilities that will be economically self-sufficient. The project uses a replicable model with the scale and solid regulatory underpinning to attract international investment and reach many more customers than traditional, small-scale mini grids. The Moyi model offers a solution which can be replicated in up to a hundred cities in DRC that are not connected to the national grid and have been targeted for electrification by the government.
Moyi Power is a consortium comprising of Gridworks, and its partners AEE Power and Eranove. The project has already attracted significant interest from development finance institutions, including the Private Infrastructure Development Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB), which has been appointed mandated lead arranger for debt financing, as well as coordinator of the concessional funds necessary to support the project.
Both AfDB and PIDG have supported Moyi Power since the initial DRC Government-run tender of the projects and have signalled their willingness to provide both debt and grant funding. Moyi Power is now looking to raise the debt and viability gap funding (VGF) needed to complete the financing of the $160 million first phase of the project, of which ~80% has already been identified. VGF is designed to ensure commerciality, affordability and to attract additional private sector finance.
Moyi Power is one of only two private energy projects included in DRC’s national energy compact which was signed by the World Bank, AfDB and the Government of DRC at the recent Misson 300 Africa Energy Summit. Mission 300 is an ambitious World Bank & AfDB programme that aims to reshape the continent’s energy landscape by connecting 300 million people to electricity by 2030.
Chris Flavin, Gridworks’ Interim CEO said:
“Much has been achieved to get Moyi Power to this stage and we’re now ready to launch the next phase to raise the project finance to start the construction of the project.
“With the right mix of blended finance, Moyi will be able to build infrastructure that provides affordable, reliable electricity to customers in northern DRC and demonstrates a replicable model for utility-scale distributed energy across Africa. We remain grateful to the consortium and to our financing partners AFDB and PIDG for their ongoing support in this crucial phase of the project.”
More on Moyi:
- Moyi is a word meaning sun in Lingala, one of the major languages of the cities in northern DRC the company will serve. These cities are Bumba, Gemena and Isiro.
- Moyi Power will build and operate greenfield electricity utilities for three cities each of over 200,000 inhabitants that are not connected to the national grid. Moyi Power will build hybrid solar and BESS generation plants (with diesel backup), on the edge of the cities and city-wide distribution networks. Businesses and households will benefit from 24/7 electricity and public street lighting, which will be, on average over 85% generated from renewable sources.
- The financing process is expected to take at least 12-15 months. Moyi Power will then begin an 18-month construction period in each of the cities, following which it will begin operations to provide power for the duration of the 20-year concessions.
- In the initial five-year operating period, Moyi Power expects to connect around 37,000 households and commercial customers. The cost of the project for this initial stage will be ~US$160m. Moyi aims to double its operating capacity every 5 years.
Media contact:
Rhyddid Carter, Head of Communications (rhyddid.carter@gridworkspartners.com)
About Gridworks:
Gridworks develops and invests in Africa’s electricity networks. We provide long-term capital to transmission, distribution and distributed renewable energy businesses. A partner to governments, utilities, and companies in the energy sector, we aim to connect Africa’s people and its businesses to clean, reliable and affordable power.
We are owned and funded by the UK government with British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, as our 100% shareholder.
Moyi Power: https://gridworkspartners.com/moyi-power