ATIDI, Kenya Partner To Advance Renewable Energy Projects
The Government of Kenya and the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) have signed the Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF) Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate in identifying, developing, and implementing renewable energy projects across Kenya.
This was contained in a statement issued recently by Mike Omuodo of Media Fast PR firm and made available to the media.
According to the statement, 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.
“ATIDI will issue liquidity instruments, or “RLSF policies”, backed by cash collateral from KfW and Norad, to IPPs or private transmission companies for a maximum tenor of up to 15 years; 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. With the RLSF MoU now in place, 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.
“The projects will not only focus on leveraging the country’s abundant natural resources to generate clean and sustainable energy, but will also reinforce its power generation and transmission capacity.
“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; signing of the RLSF MoU will provide an additional incentive for private sector participation in achieving this goal as recipients of this liquidity instrument will benefit from ATIDI’s positive credit rating of A and A3 from S&P and Moody’s, respectively.
“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, with the expectation that more of ATIDI’s member states will sign up.
To date, RLSF policies have been issued in support of six (6) renewable energy projects in Burundi, Malawi and Uganda; enabling total financing of USD 207.5m and a total installed electricity generation capacity of 136.3 MW,” the statement added.
Speaking on the partnership, Manuel Moses, CEO, ATIDI said “We are pleased to be crossing this key milestone with the Government of Kenya. 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. Our support for new projects in Kenya via RLSF will build on our historical involvement in the country’s energy sector, having supported projects such as the Lake Turkana and Kipeto wind projects in the past”
Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury, Kenya, in his remarks said “On behalf of the Government of Kenya, the National Treasury is constantly looking for various ways to encourage private sector participation in the financing of key infrastructure, such as the development of renewable energy power plants and key transmission infrastructure. 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”
Also speaking during the occasion, Davis Chirchir, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Energy & Petroleum, Kenya, stated “The planned collaboration between ATIDI and the Government of Kenya particularly through our power utilities, GDC, KETRACO, and KPLC should make a positive contribution towards the attainment of the country’s long term development agenda – the Vision 2030 – which aims to ensure Kenya becomes a ‘newly-industrializing, middle-income economy, providing a high quality of life to all its citizens in a clean and secure environment’ – increased energy access and greater reliability, courtesy of instruments such as RLSF and similar alternatives, is a key enabler of this vision.”
ATIDI was founded in 2001 by African States to cover trade and investment risks of companies doing business in Africa. ATIDI predominantly provides Political Risk, Credit Insurance and, Surety Insurance. Since inception, ATIDI has supported USD85 billion worth of investments and trade into Africa. For over a decade, ATIDI has maintained an ‘A/Stable’ rating for Financial Strength and Counterparty Credit by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), and in 2019, ATIDI obtained an A3/Stable rating from Moody’s, which has now been revised to A3/Positive.
ATIDI and the German Development Bank, KfW Development Bank, with financing from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), launched the RLSF in 2017. The Facility was created to help tackle climate change and attract investments by supporting renewable energy projects in ATI’s member countries. In 2022, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) committed additional funding towards the continued implementation of RLSF. RLSF has a capacity of USD 153.7 million and supports small and mid-scale renewable energy projects with an installed capacity of up to 100 MW (larger projects can be considered on a case-by-case basis) by protecting the projects against the risk of delayed payments by public offtakers; in turn improving project bankability and ensuring that more projects reach financial close.
