Mainstream clinches USD 117.5m equity funding for Lekela projects in Africa

Mainstream Renewable Power today said it has agreed USD 117.5 million (EUR 103.6m) equity funding to help the Lekela Power joint venture meet its target of building more than 1.3 GW of wind and solar power plants in Africa by 2018.

Lekela is a 60/40 pan-African joint venture between private equity firm Actis and the Ireland-based renewables developer.

The funding package has been secured from investors including International Finance Corp (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group, the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC) and the IFC Catalyst Fund, two funds managed by IFC Asset Management Company, Ascension Investment Management and Sanlam.

The investment will allow Lekela to keep building its pipeline of projects in Africa. It plans to construct another four wind farms in South Africa, two wind farms and a solar plant in Egypt, as well as wind farms in Senegal and Ghana. Lekela yesterday announced the acquisition of the rights to co-develop and invest in the 158-MW Taiba Ndiaye wind project in Senegal.

The USD-117.5-million transaction, which is subject to shareholder approval, was signed at The African Energy Forum in London.

Mainstream said that together with Lekela it is supporting key international initiatives such as the Obama administration's Power Africa and the UN's Sustainable Energy for All.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.882)

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