1. Global Energy Basel
Impact Investing: Putting Money to Work in Sustainability

2. Background
• Organisation
London-based NGO with 50 staff based primarily in Africa and Latin America
• Mission
Increased access to clean energy in developing countries
• Approach
Enterprise development for SMEs and project developers through provision of
technical assistance and access to finance
• Themes
Solar lighting, small hydro, wind, waste-to energy, biogas, biomass, clean cooking
(cook-stoves and briquettes), rural electrification and mini-grids
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3. Current Initiatives
• Energy SME Programme US$30m from Russian Gov’t through WB
– TA and subsidies for SMEs and developers in 5 African countries; projects in solar,
small hydro, productive use (e.g. dairies, agri) with focus on rural electrification
• Developing Energy Enterprises Programme $5m from EU / Dutch Gov’t
– Capacity building for 800 micro-enterprises in cook-stoves, briquettes, and solar
products; expect to outperform target of improving access for 1.8m people at €2/person
• Business plan competitions / grant facilities
– LAC IDEAS Energy Innovation Competition (IDB, DfID, Dutch Gov’t) – TA / Grants
– Access to Clean Energy Challenge (BiD Network, Barclays) – TA / Grants
– Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund REACT Competition (DfID / DANIDA) – TA
– Ashden Awards (Ashden Trust) – Judging and support
• Access to finance
– GVEP Loan Guarantee Fund – partial loan guarantees of $5-20k to increase availability
of credit among small energy enterprises
– Seed equity investments – $20-30k
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4. New Initiatives
• Prometheus Fund
– Clean energy-focused impact investment fund in partnership with AlphaMundi
– LAC/SSA; across technologies; debt and equity; €250k – 3m investment size
– GVEP as technical advisor provides pipeline, investee TA, impact measurement
– Fundraising, targeting first close in Q3 2012 at €25m; €50m final close in 2013
• Caribbean IDEAS Energy Innovation Competition
– $2.2m programme funded by DfID; second round of 2009 IDEAS Competition
– Supports innovative energy projects in Caribbean across renewable technologies
– Launches in Q1 2012
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5. Achievements and Challenges
• $10m mobilized since 2008 to support businesses, and increasingly to
develop innovative solutions for challenges faced by energy enterprises
– 900 businesses supported
– 1.5m people benefiting from the growth of these businesses
– 200,000 t/CO2 avoided
• Challenges
– Availability of biomass fuel for heat / cooking in remote areas
– Access to capital (risk capital for development costs of small and/or off-grid projects and
working capital for growth of early stage SMEs)
– Consumer finance mechanisms
– Scalable distribution models, particularly for penetration into rural communities
– Product awareness; quality concerns prevent adoption
• GVEP Goal: 14 – 15 – 16
– Generate $14m of annual revenue to support businesses which provide access to
energy to 15 million people by 2016
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6. By 2020…
• Higher level of awareness of failure to mitigate climate change
– Will we be trying harder on renewables, or will we have given up?
• Decreased barriers for private sector capital (equity and lenders)
– Further along the experience curve, lower transaction costs, better information, deeper
market and more monetization opportunities
– Continued support from public sector (e.g. credit enhancements, FiTs, tax incentives)
• Consumers will have more money and better information
– Will no longer settle for kerosene, will differentiate between good and bad substitutes
– Consumer transaction costs also decreased, product / service markets more liquid
• Refined distribution and consumer finance models
– Leveraging success of mobile telecom sector
– Technology will permit innovative PAYG models (e.g. scratch-cards, mobile recharge)
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7. By 2020…
• Technological advancement and economies of scale will have reduced
end-user prices
– Already significantly lower prices than several years ago, even without companies
having achieved scale and only a fraction of the market penetration that is possible
• More development of mini-grids where grid extension is not feasible
– Funding mechanisms / PPP drive private capital to distributed generation projects
– Higher cost of diesel continues to improve relative economics
• Overall challenge for BoP provision remains
– Those at the very bottom of the pyramid remain most difficult to reach with private
capital and private sector commercial activity; private sector interventions drift up the
food chain
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