The business concept of Equatorial Power combines the provision of useful energy with services for water purification, agri-processing, company incubation, and e-mobility. This is in accordance with its mission to deliver clean, usable water and productive electricity to everyone through a truly holistic approach that is centered on the needs of the individual and supported by cutting-edge technology.
On its website, Equatorial claims that it is “pioneering mini-grids 2.0 and trying to prove a successful mini-grid asset class. We intend to expand our comprehensive, distributed utility model and hasten the delivery of rural services across many more nations by using our own project development, construction, and operational capabilities as well as our local and international strategic corporate relationships.
In Africa, according to Equatorial Power, this is feasible within the next ten years. A economically viable, scalable, and consumer-facing business model that can speed up the distribution of productive energy in rural areas must deliver the energy-water-agri-processing nexus. An anchor load for the mini-grid is produced by Equatorial Power’s ownership and operation of agri-processing hubs (APHs), which provide nearby communities with access to services like water filtration, cold storage, fish drying, and maize milling. This encourages economic growth by bridging gaps in local value chains. Equatorial Power also provides business incubator programs that promote the efficient use of clean energy through the financing of appliances and the development of skills.
InfraCo Africa , a division of Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has partnered with Equatorial Power (EP) to scale the latter’s creative mini-grid concept in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda in order to aid in the realization of this objective.
The companies will jointly create 4 new mini-grids and 4 agri-processing hubs (APHs) on Idjwi Island in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These will be followed by 4 further solar mini-grids and 3 APHs in south-east Rwanda. Smaller enterprises will be able to access energy as a result, supporting SDG 8 by directly and indirectly generating employment within the local supply chain. The new small grids, which range in size from 60kW to 85kW, will include battery storage to handle erratic sunshine during the countries’ wet seasons. By 2023, the project is expected to have connected roughly 3330 low-income users in the DRC and 2,500 in Rwanda, granting over 35,000 people access to clean energy and advancing SDGs 7 and 13.
The World Bank has provided US$1.054 million in grant money for the implementation in the DRC, and InfraCo Africa has leveraged a US$1.35 million capital grant from its sister firm, PIDG Technical Assistance (PIDG TA), to assist the project.
Nabil Saimi, the head of business development at InfraCo Africa, said: “We are happy to offer our experience to Rwanda and the DRC, both of which are new countries for us to engage in. InfraCo Africa has a great track record of completing mini-grid projects in sub-Saharan Africa. We are dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to clean energy, and we’re thrilled to support EP’s creative strategy for combining power availability with agri-processing and other essential drivers of employment and economic growth.
“We are thrilled to have the proper partner to accompany us on our path to move beyond electrons and deliver contemporary and sustainable rural infrastructure services to the people of DRC and Rwanda,” said Dario Fallara, head of business development at Equatorial Power.
This agreement significantly improves access to energy. Africa still has 600 million people without access to energy. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda are home to about half of them. These initiatives in the DRC will significantly improve access to energy where it is most needed.
Picture taken by Infraco Africa
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