INTERVIEW
GILLES VAES CEO, INFRACO AFRICA
Renewables – both on and off-grid – can support governments’ plans for universal electrification whilst also contributing to global goals around the mitigation of climate change and achieving global net-zero. " SolarQuarter Africa magazine got an excellent opportunity to interview Gilles Vaes - CEO, InfraCo Africa. He shared details about the company’s offerings and further plans on contributing to the solar growth in the region. He also expressed his thoughts on the solar market challenges and potential in the region. Please give our readers a bit of background about yourself and your company - its presence and offerings. I have an energy background and came to InfraCo Africa in 2019 having spent 15 years with Engie working in emerging markets in downstream natural gas and renewable energy. InfraCo Africa is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is supported by the governments of the UK, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. A developer at heart, I was attracted by the company’s somewhat unique mandate – delivering sustainable development impact through infrastructure and doing that by mobilizing private sector finance into some of sub-Saharan Africa’s least developed countries. Alongside renewable energy, we invest in water, transport and logistics, housing, and agri-infrastructure – often operating at the frontier of new technologies or in geographies where the private sector has previously feared to tread. Yet we do this by operating as a private company, seeking to develop bankable infrastructure projects and to invest our equity into those projects and innovative businesses which have the potential to be profitable and to operate at scale.
We have teams in London, Nairobi, and Casablanca and currently have a total of 29 active projects and investments across 13 countries. InfraCo Africa’s dedicated business development, investment, and asset management teams can support projects from concept to bankable reality and we also benefit from our ability to draw on the support of PIDG, our sister PIDG companies, and our Owners to ensure that our projects can overcome challenges as they arise in order to succeed and thrive. I am very proud of the fact that all of our projects and investments are aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. To ensure that we achieve inclusive development impact, we embed high standards of health and safety and environmental and social good practices in our projects. We also seek to ensure that women, girls and underserved communities have access to jobs and opportunities and to the benefits of infrastructure. To ensure that every penny of our Owners’ money is well spent, we have a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and work with our partners to enhance their own ABC management systems.
What is your assessment of the African Solar Market? What do you think the potential and opportunities are? The African solar market is an increasingly exciting space to work in – at InfraCo Africa we have an established track record in ongrid solar and off-grid solar but even in these areas we are seeing the considerable change:
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For our on-grid projects – such as the two operational solar plants we have with JCM Power in Malawi - we are seeing innovation and cost reductions for battery energy storage, something which is key to integrating intermittent renewables with existing grid infrastructure. In the off-grid space, there are increasing opportunities to develop large portfolio projects - such as our Sierra Leone Mini-grid project - and also to develop pan-African offgrid solutions. I also believe that there is considerable scope to expand the productive use of solar power. Both approaches increase the demand for clean energy which will, in turn, increase the profitability of off-grid utilities. Our solar-powered irrigation project in Senegal and the water pumping, street lighting, and affordable appliance microfinance applications being advanced by KUDURA Power East Africa in Kenya are just some examples of projects targeting productive use, so too is the initiative to develop solar charging hubs for our NopeaRide electric taxis in Kenya. There are also exciting developments in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector which we are following with interest, and, in the solar home systems sector, we recently announced our commitment to provide US$15 million by way of convertible loan notes to a nextgeneration utility, Bboxx, to ramp up the provision of clean, reliable and affordable energy in underserved communities across a number of sub-Saharan geographies.
MAR-APR ISSUE 2022
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