By Yange Ikyaa
Exploring and aiming to accelerate public-private partnerships (PPP) that can achieve universal electrification in the least Developed Countries (LDCs), Husk Power Systems, has issued an invitation to governments in Sub-Saharan Africa to partner in scaling-up the deployment of renewable energy mini-grids in off-grid, weak-grid and under-the-grid communities.
During the Private Sector Forum at the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), Husk said it welcomed expressions of interest from national and sub-national governments.
Elements of the Company’s proposed PPP indicate that Husk will finance the building of 200 mini-grids in one or more LDCs in Sub-Saharan Africa, own and operate the mini-grids for the lifetime of the projects, select the 200 communities based on its business model and to have the ability to charge cost-reflective tariffs that are affordable for customers.
Husk will also require interested governments to provide a 20 to 25-year concession to the company, while interested governments and/or their funding partners will provide viability gap support for the initial phase of mini-grid operations.
The need to accelerate electrification in LDCs is enormous, as lack of electricity impacts hundreds of millions of lives and countless small businesses in those regions. In the 33 LDCs in Africa, the electrification rate is only 36%.
For rural areas in LDCs, the number of newly connected customers each year needs to increase from 13.7 million to 41 million to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG7) – access to modern, reliable, clean and affordable electricity for all by 2030.
Under its proposed PPP, in one country, Husk estimates that 200 of its mini-grids would benefit up to 1 million people and 10,000 small businesses, while powering hundreds of schools and health clinics and avoiding 15,000 tons of CO2 annually by displacing diesel and gasoline generation.
In 2022, Husk became the first and only mini-grid company to sign a UN Energy Compact supporting SDG7. In its UN Energy Compact, Husk pledged to build up to 5,000 mini-grids that would benefit more than 11 million people.
The Company currently operates more than 200 mini-grids in India, Nigeria and Tanzania, and expects to double that number to 400 within the next 12 months.
In the words of Manoj Sinha, Husk’s Co-Founder and CEO, “as LDC governments in Sub-Saharan Africa look to roll out integrated energy systems that will be both fiscally sound and climate resilient, Husk is ready for action.
“We have the scale and a proven business model, and it’s now time for SDG7-focused public-private partnerships to move from the pilot phase to full-fledged market interventions that can achieve radical scale.”
“By expanding access to modern energy services, renewable energy can help lift millions of people out of poverty, improve health and education, create jobs and income opportunities for people in the Least Developed Countries,” said Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Director of the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States and Executive Secretary of the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5).
“It is encouraging to see the private sector stepping up at LDC5 with innovative solutions to achieve SDG7 in the Least Developed Countries,” he added.