Background

NEoT Offgrid Africa (NOA) is an investment platform created by Meridiam, EDF and Mitsubishi to develop and invest in off-grid energy solutions in selected African countries. While the platform and investment decisions are controlled by Meridiam at board level, daily corporate activities as well as projects screening, development and asset management related activities are performed by a dedicated team of NEoT Capital under close supervision of Meridiam.
With this platform, Meridiam targets an overall equity deployment of EUR 33m – mainly in solar home systems (SHS) and solar mini-grids – to address the electrification needs of off-grid communities replacing unreliable and polluting diesel generators. This is expected to create significant environmental and social impact. The Projects operate under a standard Project finance structure in which an AssetCo assumes part of the end-user payment risk and subcontracts the deployment and operation of assets under EPC and O&M types of contracts.
Political risk insurance already covers – inter alia – currency transfer restriction and inconvertibility for projects in Ivory Coast, Uganda and Sierra Leone. The policy is being finalized for Benin and Nigeria.

Stage

In Operation

ESG/SDG Key Facts

The Project satisfies one of the key themes of the Fund’s investment strategy by providing essential services to the community, translating to high social impact such as:
• Income-generating activities for the local population by providing access to electricity and cost savings as the kits are a cheaper solution for electricity production and lighting
• Gender inclusion, education, social cohesion, which are the benefits of electrification in remote rural areas
• Health, safety and security improvements for customers (no kerosene burns, no eye/lung irritation)
• Direct local employment
In Sierra Leone and Uganda, ERM reviewed and confirmed the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) prepared by Winch as adequate for the management of E&S risks and impacts for a Project of this nature. Recommendations were made to improve the Stakeholder Management Plan, Waste management measures and workers code of conduct. The ESMP was annexed to the EPC contract to ensure compliance with IFC Performance Standards during the performance of works.
In Benin, Royal Haskoning DHV (RHDHV) conducted the Environmental & Social Due Diligence of the projects. In its E&S due diligence report, RHDHV focused on identifying environmental and social gaps in the projects’ design and documentation compared to national regulations and to the IFC Performance Standards. The due diligence report provided an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) to mitigate the risks to a level in line with international best practices. NOA has appointed an external consultant, Insuco, to conduct a social impact study of the portfolio in order to be better quantify the extra financial impact of the investments and provide for a framework so that NOA’s partners will then be able to annually monitor and report on social impact going forwards. The final report was released in early Q4 2023.