The Beyond the Grid for Africa (BGFA) program has selected two clean electricity providers to receive a grant for the installation of solar home systems in Uganda. The grant of $5 million has been awarded to the local subsidiaries of Engie Energy Access and d.light in Uganda.
Engie Energy Access Uganda and d.light Design Uganda have been selected by the BGFA under a call for expressions of interest. The project will see the expansion and development of high-quality solar home kits in the rural and peri-urban areas of Uganda.
Under the project, both the selected companies will establish around 370,000 high-quality energy service connections. This will benefit over 1.8 million people across the country.
d.light has been active in rural Uganda since 2016 and relies on the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) system that is very common in the solar home systems segment in Africa. With the help of BGFA’s grant, d.light’s Ugandan subsidiary has planned to install 200,000 solar home systems.
Nick Imudia, Managing Director of d.light, commented “We are very pleased to partner with the BGFA program to expand our business in Uganda. The funding received will enable us to accelerate the development of energy access in rural Uganda, benefiting approximately 1 million people.”
For its part, Engie Energy Access Uganda will install 170,000 solar home systems over the next four years. The company expects to provide electricity access for 800,000 Ugandans with the help of this BGFA’s fund.
BGFA has been implementing a $107 million program since 2019 to support access to renewable electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. The multi-donor facility managed by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), is active in Liberia, the DRC, Zambia, and Burkina Faso.
