AfDB and NDF Back $11.3M P-REC Facility to Unlock Mini-Grid Financing

The African Development Bank, through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, has approved a $5.65 million reimbursable grant to support the launch of a new climate finance instrument targeting off-grid renewable energy in fragile African markets. The facility is co-financed by the Nordic Development Fund with an additional $5.65 million, bringing total initial funding to $11.3 million.

The financing is directed to the Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) Aggregation Facility, a dedicated funding vehicle managed by Camco Clean Energy in partnership with Energy Peace Partners. The facility acts as the recipient entity, aggregating capital and deploying it to eligible mini-grid developers across fragile and conflict-affected markets.

The structure is designed to address one of the core constraints facing mini-grid developers: limited access to early-stage, non-dilutive capital. Through the facility, developers monetise future renewable energy certificates by selling them forward in exchange for upfront cash, improving project bankability and enabling faster deployment.

This approach converts long-term environmental attributes into immediate liquidity, while creating a pathway for corporate climate buyers to channel funding into high-impact energy access projects. Certificates are ultimately sold to global corporates, generating hard-currency inflows into markets where project finance is typically constrained by currency risk, weak offtaker profiles, and limited availability of commercial debt.

The facility will target mini-grid projects across 14 fragile countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, with an expected deployment of 71 MW of renewable energy capacity. The programme is projected to deliver approximately 240,000 new electricity connections and provide first-time access to power for around 856,000 people.

The instrument is positioned as a market-making pilot aligned with Mission 300, testing whether demand for high-impact renewable energy certificates can be scaled to support distributed energy infrastructure in fragile environments. Its success will depend on sustained corporate demand for P-RECs and the ability to translate that demand into predictable, upfront capital for developers operating in some of the continent’s most challenging markets.