Kenya and ATIDI have signed the Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF) to identify, develop, and implement renewable energy projects across Kenya.
RLSF, a joint initiative of ATIDI, the KfW Development Bank and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), is a credit enhancement instrument provided by ATIDI to renewable energy Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that sell the electricity generated by their projects to state-owned power utilities.
The instrument’s scope has recently been extended to provide support for eligible transmission projects; allowing for possible private sector participation in this key sub-sector.
“With this MoU with ATIDI, a multilateral institution that we are proud to not only be a founding member of but to host with its headquarters in Nairobi, the provision of RLSF policies will hopefully enable more projects to advance whilst reducing the need for government-backed credit enhancement tools,” said Treasury CS Njuguna Ndungu.
ATIDI will issue liquidity instruments, or “RLSF policies”, backed by cash collateral from KfW and Norad.
The instruments will be issued to IPPs or private transmission companies for a maximum tenor of up to 15 years.
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Each RLSF policy will cover up to a maximum of twelve (12) months’ worth of revenue for the project.
The RLSF cover is available to renewable energy projects of up to 100 MW (larger projects can be considered on a case by case basis), and private financed transmission projects.
ATIDI will engage with IPPs in Kenya with the expectation that advanced hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind projects may benefit from this instrument in the near future.
Part of the project is also to reinforce its power generation and transmission capacity.
“Not only does this send out a positive message to project developers, lenders, and other prospective stakeholders looking to invest in Kenya’s energy sector, it also reinforces the various ways in which multilateral financial institutions, such as ATIDI, are constantly looking for innovative ways to increase financial flows into African countries,” said Manuel Moses, ATIDI Chief Executive Officer.
Statistics show that over 80% of Kenya’s electricity is generated from renewable energy sources.
This places the country of over 50 million people well on its way to meeting its goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean energy by 2030.
The new deal with Kenya will provide an additional incentive for private sector participation in achieving this goal as recipients of this liquidity instrument.
Parties to the MoU include the National Treasury; the Ministry of Energy & Petroleum; Geothermal Development Company (GDC); Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO); and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). The RLSF MoU supplements the membership agreements already in place between ATIDI and the Government of Kenya.
Kenya becomes the tenth ATIDI member state to sign the RLSF MoU after Benin, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
RLSF policies have been issued in support of six renewable energy projects in Burundi, Malawi and Uganda enabling total financing of $207.5 million and a total installed electricity generation capacity of 136.3 MW.
