US-based rural Africa- and Asia-focused net-zero energy company Husk Power Systems (Husk) announced on Tuesday the launch of its “Africa Sunshot” solar minigrid roll-out initiative. The initiative was launched at the Africa Climate Summit, currently under way in Nairobi, Kenya.

Africa Sunshot is intended to achieve the creation of 2 500 net-zero solar energy minigrids to generate electricity for African communities with no, or only weak, connections with power transmission grids, within five years. The initiative will be funded by $500-million in equity and debt that Husk expects to mobilise.

“Meeting the targets of the Africa Sunshot will require operational excellence from Husk, and we are ready to mobilise immediately,” assured company co-founder and CEO Manoj Sinha. “It will also need the active support of governments to get the right policies in place that integrate minigrids as a central component of national electrification and energy transition plans. Finally, all investors, including development finance institutions, infrastructure funds, and commercial debt providers, must provide the appropriate quantum, tenure and cost of capital to meet these accelerated timelines.”

The intent is that the 2 500 new minigrids will result in one-million new electricity connections that will directly benefit 7.7-million people. It would also see 225 000 small, medium-sized and microenterprises connected to an electricity supply. The initiative will also involve the deployment of 150 MW of commercial and industrial rooftop solar capacity. And one result would be a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 2.1 megatons, by replacing diesel generation.

Husk currently has more than 200 minigrids operating in Nigeria and India. The company has released country-specific targets for Africa Sunshot. These are to create 1 000 minigrids in Nigeria, 500 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 250 each in four other countries yet to be selected.

However, at the moment the 33 least developed African countries have an electrification rate of only 36%. The World Bank has reported that providing electricity, by 2030, to the 380-million Africans not yet connected, would require the construction of more than 160 000 minigrids, requiring an investment of $91-billion.

The year 2030 is the deadline for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Universal access to energy is part of SDG7. At the current rate, only some 12 000 new minigrids, which will bring power to 46-million people, will be built in Africa by 2030. To achieve universal energy access by 2030 will require a ten-fold increase in the current minigrid deployment rate, which will, in turn, require a “massive” scaling up of the industry.

“Now is the time to support a ten-fold increase in the minigrid industry and supercharge low carbon and climate resilient growth in rural Africa,” urged Husk Nigeria country director Olu Aruike. “We’re already doing it at scale today in Nigeria, the world’s largest off-grid market, and it’s time to roll out that scale across the continent.”