Africa Energy Program

Ethiopia

• With support from the IKEA Foundation, our team worked in 2020 and 2021 to establish an evidence base and demonstrate the pathways for incorporating productive uses of energy into electrification efforts in Ethiopia. This work enabled RMI to engage in 52 communities across Ethiopia and delivered a portfolio of projects along with a National Productive Use Program endorsed by sector decision makers. We fostered a common understanding of the needs and opportunities, helping Ethiopian stakeholders move toward an integrated approach linking electrification to agricultural value chains.
• With support from the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK-PACT), in 2022 RMI Africa identified viable business models for private minigrids in Ethiopia, laying the groundwork to attract private investment in minigrids in Ethiopia and trigger regulatory changes.

Nigeria

• Through the landmark Minigrids in the Money report, RMI Africa quantified in 2018 the minigrid market potential and defined a series of real-world project financials, which created global interest in the Nigeria market. We now see an intense focus on minigrid development that will result in hundreds to thousands of communities and markets receiving high-quality power for the first time.
• Our program is a core implementing partner of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). Working in partnership with GEAPP, we designed and implemented a strategic intervention for utility-enabled DERs leading to the co-development of a large-scale, utility-focused program.
• With support from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), we launched a commercial and industrial clean energy pipeline development effort with Daystar Power to de-risk 40 MW of clean energy generation capacity in Nigeria and implement 20 projects, setting the stage for replication by other developers and utilities.
• In partnership with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and GEAPP, RMI Africa developed and launched in 2022 the Energizing Agriculture Program, a flagship initiative leading to an initial accelerator cohort of five teams testing scalable business models for productive uses across 20+ minigrid sites.
• In 2022, our program concluded an economic assessment of electric vehicle (EV) usage on rural minigrids with support from Shell Foundation and Factor[e] Ventures, sharing our critical insights with development partners and private actors and paving the way to scale funding into e-mobility in Africa.

Uganda

• Our holistic energy plan — finalized in 2017 — identified the need to focus on investment beyond traditional power supply to avoid taking on unnecessary debt and to ensure that the value of energy access is realized through demand stimulation programs. As a result, Uganda energy stakeholders are now aware and aligned on the importance of these issues — a critical first step toward long-term change.

Rwanda

• Our integrated planning work with the utility in 2016 led to a clear understanding that too much capacity coming onto the grid in large pieces could create challenges for the country. This work contributed to the utility’s decision to change its investment approach to be more firmly grounded in robust analytics.
• We co-developed and delivered in 2016 an off-grid electrification strategy that led to multiple solar home system companies operating in Rwanda, which leads to lower pricing and better products for consumers.

Malawi

• In 2019, RMI Africa completed a sustainable energy investment study, including modeling training for the national utility staff and procurement unit. The study led to the reconsideration of proposed coal development and the resilience impacts of hydro-dominant plans, as well as the prioritization of clean energy projects.