- Several financiers plan to fund OnePower’s mini-grid project in Lesotho.
- OnePower will install 11 solar plus storage mini-grids across the country.
- The plants will supply energy at a tariff of LSL5/kWh (€0.28).
EDFI Electrifi, alongside a coalition of organisations, plans to install 11 solar plus battery mini-grids in Lesotho. The plants will have a cumulative storage capacity of 1.8MW, generating about 3.48GWh of electricity annually. OnePower, a U.S.-based non-profit will install the mini-grid systems. The plants will meet the energy needs of about 20,000 households and seven health centres via 7,300 new electricity connections. In addition, thee mini-grids will supply clean electricity to customers at an “almost cost-reflective tariff” of LSL5/kWh (€0.28).
EDFI Electrifi will provide €4.23 million for the project via a mixture of a loan and investment in OnePower stock. EDFI also added that the UK-backed and Camco Clean Energy managed Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) has matched its equity and loan investment. The EU body also added that the mini-grid project had received unspecified volumes of grant funding from the UN Capital Development Fund, UN Development Program, The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Power Africa fund, and U.K.-government backed UK Aid, among others. EDFI Electrifi noted that the funding complements an earlier €100,000 loan provided to OnePower for a feasibility study to lay the groundwork for the mini-grid scheme.