Berkeley Energy Africa Ltd

Africa Infrastructure

Berkeley Energy Africa Ltd

  • Active
  • Exited

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

The investment will support renewable power projects, including delivering 224MW of renewable power, increasing the supply of reliable electricity to industry, supporting 110,000 jobs, grid-connected households, improving quality of life for 2.4 million consumers and displacing diesel generation, leading to a 346,000 tonnes of CO2 reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of capital will be directed to category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries.

Impact
  • Create economic opportunities through business growth (SDG 8.5).
  • Improve standards of living for end consumers through the provision of more and better-quality clean energy (SDG 7.1, 7.2).
  • Improve environmental sustainability and contribute to climate action by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (SDG 13A).
How?
  • Economic enabler: Add 84MW of new power capacity, increasing the supply of reliable electricity to firms and households, increasing productivity, and leading to economic growth and job creation and improving quality of life for end consumers.
  • Direct: Avoid/reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the displacement of thermal power.
Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees

Pan-Africa: 79 per cent Uganda, 9 per cent Cameroon, 6 per cent Madagascar, 6 per cent Angola (approximately 94 per cent category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries)

Unknown
Consumers

Pan-Africa: 79 per cent Uganda, 9 per cent Cameroon, 6 per cent Madagascar, 6 per cent Angola (approximately 94 per cent category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries)

Urban/peri-urban households
Planet

Global

N/A
Scale Depth/Duration
  • Employees: We expect investees to support 110,000 forward jobs in the economy. Using project cost data, the projects in Angola and Madagascar are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of employment than those in Uganda and Cameroon.
  • Consumers: We expect investees to provide electricity to meet demand for 2.4 million residential consumers. Using project cost data, the projects in Madagascar Angola and Cameroon are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of consumers reached than those Uganda.
  • Employees: The impact on economic opportunities is expected to be deeper in countries where there are higher poverty and unemployment levels.
  • Consumers: Those suffering from unreliable grid access and high levels of poverty will benefit from quality of life improvements, but these are expected to be greater for households that consume the most electricity and use appliances.
  • Planet: We expect investees to reduce/avoid 346,000 tonnes of CO2. Using project cost data, the projects in Angola and Cameroon are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of emissions avoided than those in Madagascar and Uganda due to higher grid emissions factors.
Grid Score Contribution

3.5 – 4.0

Market context: Lack of small-scale hydro development expertise in sub-Saharan Africa.

To help us direct our investments, we use a tool called the Development Impact Grid. The Grid scores every investment we plan out of a score of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in the country and whether investment in that sector will lead to jobs.

Financial: Provide short-term debt to the manager to address liquidity needs arising at the project level due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Risk
  • Execution: The implementation of hydro projects requires specialist team expertise. The manager has a proven track record in hydro development.
  • Unintended: Hydro projects often present significant and complex environmental and social risks, including physical / economic displacement of local communities and potential impacts on indigenous peoples, cultural heritage and / or critical habitats. The manager has a good track record in assessing and mitigating these risks and these are all run-of-river hydros without storage or large dams which have a smaller footprint compared with hydro projects which incorporate storage components.

Understanding each ‘Impact Dashboard’ (PDF)

Environmental and social aspects

We agreed an environmental and social (E&S) action plan that will further enhance Berkeley Energy's existing E&S management system, including hiring another E&S manager and further integrating gender considerations into the fund manager's investment process.

Key facts

Status:
Active
Region

Since 2012, we’ve only invested in Africa and South Asia. Investments outside these regions are from our pre-2012 portfolio.
:
Africa
Sector

We have seven priority sectors. However, we continue to invest outside these sectors, largely in the most challenging regions, as new investment supporting any sector helps to underpin the private sector, and create jobs and livelihoods for people.
:
Infrastructure
Investment type

We provide capital in three broad ways: direct equity, debt, and intermediated equity (principally through investment funds).
:
Direct Debt
Start date

For direct investments, this is the date British International Investment committed capital to the business or project.

For funds, this is the date that British International Investment committed capital to the fund.

For underlying fund investments, this is the date that the fund invested capital into the business.e
:
December 2020
Amount

For direct investments, this is the total amount that British International Investment has committed to the business or project (it may be a combination of equity and debt).

For funds, this is the total amount that British International Investment has committed to the fund.
:
$15m
Domicile

This is the investee company’s place of incorporation; or a fund’s jurisdiction.
:
Mauritius

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

The investment will support renewable power projects, including delivering 224MW of renewable power, increasing the supply of reliable electricity to industry, supporting 110,000 jobs, grid-connected households, improving quality of life for 2.4 million consumers and displacing diesel generation, leading to a 346,000 tonnes of CO2 reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of capital will be directed to category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries.

Impact
  • Create economic opportunities through business growth (SDG 8.5).
  • Improve standards of living for end consumers through the provision of more and better-quality clean energy (SDG 7.1, 7.2).
  • Improve environmental sustainability and contribute to climate action by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (SDG 13A).
How?
  • Economic enabler: Add 84MW of new power capacity, increasing the supply of reliable electricity to firms and households, increasing productivity, and leading to economic growth and job creation and improving quality of life for end consumers.
  • Direct: Avoid/reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the displacement of thermal power.
Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees

Pan-Africa: 79 per cent Uganda, 9 per cent Cameroon, 6 per cent Madagascar, 6 per cent Angola (approximately 94 per cent category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries)

Unknown
Consumers

Pan-Africa: 79 per cent Uganda, 9 per cent Cameroon, 6 per cent Madagascar, 6 per cent Angola (approximately 94 per cent category ‘A’ and ‘B’ countries)

Urban/peri-urban households
Planet

Global

N/A
Scale Depth/Duration
  • Employees: We expect investees to support 110,000 forward jobs in the economy. Using project cost data, the projects in Angola and Madagascar are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of employment than those in Uganda and Cameroon.
  • Consumers: We expect investees to provide electricity to meet demand for 2.4 million residential consumers. Using project cost data, the projects in Madagascar Angola and Cameroon are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of consumers reached than those Uganda.
  • Employees: The impact on economic opportunities is expected to be deeper in countries where there are higher poverty and unemployment levels.
  • Consumers: Those suffering from unreliable grid access and high levels of poverty will benefit from quality of life improvements, but these are expected to be greater for households that consume the most electricity and use appliances.
  • Planet: We expect investees to reduce/avoid 346,000 tonnes of CO2. Using project cost data, the projects in Angola and Cameroon are expected to have a greater impact on the scale of emissions avoided than those in Madagascar and Uganda due to higher grid emissions factors.
Grid Score Contribution

3.5 – 4.0

Market context: Lack of small-scale hydro development expertise in sub-Saharan Africa.

To help us direct our investments, we use a tool called the Development Impact Grid. The Grid scores every investment we plan out of a score of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in the country and whether investment in that sector will lead to jobs.

Financial: Provide short-term debt to the manager to address liquidity needs arising at the project level due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Risk
  • Execution: The implementation of hydro projects requires specialist team expertise. The manager has a proven track record in hydro development.
  • Unintended: Hydro projects often present significant and complex environmental and social risks, including physical / economic displacement of local communities and potential impacts on indigenous peoples, cultural heritage and / or critical habitats. The manager has a good track record in assessing and mitigating these risks and these are all run-of-river hydros without storage or large dams which have a smaller footprint compared with hydro projects which incorporate storage components.

Understanding each ‘Impact Dashboard’ (PDF)

Environmental and social aspects

We agreed an environmental and social (E&S) action plan that will further enhance Berkeley Energy's existing E&S management system, including hiring another E&S manager and further integrating gender considerations into the fund manager's investment process.

Key facts

Status:
Active
Region

Since 2012, we’ve only invested in Africa and South Asia. Investments outside these regions are from our pre-2012 portfolio.
:
Africa
Sector

We have seven priority sectors. However, we continue to invest outside these sectors, largely in the most challenging regions, as new investment supporting any sector helps to underpin the private sector, and create jobs and livelihoods for people.
:
Infrastructure
Investment type

We provide capital in three broad ways: direct equity, debt, and intermediated equity (principally through investment funds).
:
Direct Debt
Start date

For direct investments, this is the date British International Investment committed capital to the business or project.

For funds, this is the date that British International Investment committed capital to the fund.

For underlying fund investments, this is the date that the fund invested capital into the business.e
:
December 2020
Amount

For direct investments, this is the total amount that British International Investment has committed to the business or project (it may be a combination of equity and debt).

For funds, this is the total amount that British International Investment has committed to the fund.
:
$15m
Domicile

This is the investee company’s place of incorporation; or a fund’s jurisdiction.
:
Mauritius
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