Africa GreenCo Secures $21.5 Million to Accelerate Clean Energy Across Southern Africa

LUSAKA — Africa GreenCo has secured an injection of $11.5 million from long-standing backers the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and Impact Fund Denmark (IFDK). Combined with the recent entry of institutional heavyweight Sanlam Alternative Investments, the total capital raised in this latest funding wave hits $21.5 million.

Operating across Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa, the regional trading platform functions as a bankable intermediary off-taker connecting independent renewable energy producers with competitive power pools. Since gaining Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) membership, the firm has facilitated over 1.4 TWh of clean energy transactions, bridging systemic credit gaps in the region's power sector.

Scaling Liquidity and PPA Backing

The newly injected capital, alongside guarantee instruments backed by the European Commission’s EFSD+ initiative and GuarantCo, will significantly expand GreenCo's risk-bearing capacity. This expanded liquidity buffer allows the platform to underwrite power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling up to 900MW of future renewable generation capacity.

“There is no stronger testament to the faith in a business than to see investment from both new and existing shareholders. The additional financial strength provided by these investments, along with the other facilities provided by GuarantCo and the European Commission under their EFSD+ programme, will allow GreenCo to further support the energy transition in the region and act as a key stakeholder in viable energy infrastructure,” stated Pug Bennet, Group CFO of Africa GreenCo.

Deepening Institutional Partnerships

The transaction highlights a growing appetite among institutional and development finance institutions to de-risk private power infrastructure in developing markets. Thomas Hougaard, Managing Director and Co-Head of Green Energy and Infrastructure at IFDK, noted that the firm’s continuous backing helped mobilize a broader EUR 50 million guarantee framework to attract commercial capital like Sanlam.

Omar Jabri, PIDG Head of Business Development (Africa) for InfraCo, emphasized that scaling the model directly addresses the continent's climate mandates by mobilizing vital private finance. Echoing this sentiment, Mark Moorhouse, Executive Head of Infrastructure Finance at Sanlam Alternative Investments, pointed out the unique structural positioning of the platform:

“Africa GreenCo occupies the part of the energy value chain that determines whether new power generation is ultimately delivered. For us, this is a natural extension of more than a decade of infrastructure investment across the continent: backing the market architecture that allows Africa to finance its own energy transition on commercial terms, while supporting the reliable, increasingly low-carbon power that economic growth depends on,” noted Mark Moorhouse.

PIDG and IFDK join Sanlam in backing the growth of Africa GreenCo’s market-enabling renewable energy platform - PIDG

PIDG and IFDK join Sanlam in backing growth of Africa GreenCo’s market enabling renewable energy platform.

PIDGLorna McNae