Client
Millenium Challenge Account Bénin II (MCA – Bénin II)
Country
Benin
Period
2020 – 2022
Funding
Millenium Challenge Corporation
Context
The Millennium Challenge Account-Benin II (MCA-Benin II) established the Off-Grid Clean Energy Facility (OCEF). It is the financial line aimed at enhancing electricity access for underserved populations in rural and peri-urban areas of Benin by lowering investment barriers in the off-grid electricity sector.
The OCEF selected eight private developers through a competitive call and offered subsidies for their investment projects in mini solar or hybrid networks. Under their signed financing agreements, these developers were tasked with negotiating concession agreements with the national granting institution, ABERM, including validating their electricity sales tariffs and implementing their projects.
Activities & Results
As part of this project, six of the eight operators selected by the OCEF obtained all the necessary approvals, but only four were able to implement their investment programs due to disbursement constraints within the OCEF program, which offered subsidies ranging from 30% to 48%. Our role focused on supporting national institutions—ABERME, the grantor, and ARE, the regulator—by:
- Assisting in the negotiation of concession agreements, including the negotiation of electricity sales tariffs to consumers and the development of a reference financial model
- Overseeing the monitoring of construction work until the issuance of the commissioning authorization for each developer
