Africa faces the world’s largest energy poverty gap across the globe: 600+ million people remain without electricity, and another 800 million live with unreliable power. This is largely because African utilities struggle with aging infrastructure, rising debt, and unprofitable tariff structures and business models. Interconnected minigrids (IMGs) offer a transformative solution by blending local renewable energy assets with existing grids to augment service reliability and availability, while increasing affordability. IMGs create a “win-win-win” for all parties:

• Developers earn higher and more stable revenues than with isolated minigrids.

• Consumers enjoy better service quality and lower tariffs.

• Utilities benefit from new investment, stronger performance, and improved collections.

IMGs are more than a technical innovation, they are a pathway to energy security, they support climate goals by effectively displacing on-grid fossil fuels back-ups, and they drive economic and industrial growth across Africa in rural and urban settings.

This report demystifies IMGs, curating experiences and lessons from pioneering projects in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe, where IMGs are already expanding connections, displacing diesel use, and powering local industries and public infrastructure.

It also introduces a framework for identifying high-potential IMG markets across the continent based on key enabling conditions, and applies this framework to Zambia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Comoros to guide future scaling of interconnected solutions.

Recommendations for adopting IMGs

To identify new IMG markets and accelerate their adoption, the report offers the following targeted recommendations:

1. Conduct market assessments to identify high-potential areas based on enabling conditions.

2. Adapt IMG business models to local contexts, ensuring alignment with regulatory frameworks and stakeholder needs.

3. Support early-stage pilots with concessional financing and risk mitigation tools to build confidence and attract private investment.

4. Institutionalize learnings from pilots through knowledge-sharing and policy integration.

5. Launch second-wave projects and refine subsidies to accelerate scale.

6. Transition to competitive procurement for mature markets, reducing reliance on public subsidies.

Download the report to understand what it takes to integrate minigrids into national power systems and how collaboration between utilities, regulators, and developers can deliver the next wave of electrification.