Africa Focus
One continent. Fifty-four distinct markets.
Africa's solar potential is extraordinary — and generalizations about it are useless. Solar projects are developed in a specific country, under a specific regulatory regime, with a specific utility, grid, and community. Market specificity is our starting discipline.
Market Selection Discipline
Twelve fundamentals we assess before a project advances
Every opportunity assessment starts with the market it lives in. These are the fundamentals we test, country by country — because each one can carry or kill a project.
Energy policy & procurement
How a country plans and procures generation — competitive auctions, direct negotiation, unsolicited-proposal frameworks — determines the entire commercial route. We map the procurement pathway before anything else.
Utility structure & credit
The offtaker’s structure and financial health shape tariff realism, security requirements, and the guarantees financing will demand. A strong project with a weak counterparty is still a weak project.
Grid condition & evacuation
Network capacity, stability, and expansion plans decide where projects can actually connect — and at what cost. Grid reality beats grid maps.
Land tenure systems
Customary, leasehold, and freehold regimes each carry distinct paths to bankable site control. Tenure diligence done early prevents the disputes that surface at financing.
Permitting & regulation
Every market sequences licenses, concessions, and consents differently. We build country-specific permitting roadmaps with local counsel, not generic checklists.
Currency & credit risk
Tariff currency, convertibility, and transfer risk shape financing structure. Guarantees, insurance products, and indexation strategies must match the market’s actual risk profile.
Environmental & social norms
National E&S requirements and lender standards must both be met. The stronger of the two sets the bar — and community legitimacy is a development asset, not a compliance line-item.
Local participation
Local-content rules, ownership requirements, and genuine local partnership determine both approval prospects and long-term operational success. We build with local partners, not around them.
Development finance presence
The DFIs, guarantee agencies, and concessional facilities active in a market materially change what can be financed. We align project structure with the capital that actually operates there.
Logistics & construction environment
Ports, roads, customs, equipment import regimes, and contractor availability shape delivery cost and schedule. Constructability is a market question as much as an engineering one.
Government priorities
Electrification targets, industrial policy, and energy-security agendas define which projects a government will champion. Alignment with public priorities is a bankability factor.
Offtaker strength
Beyond the utility: corporate and industrial buyers with hard-currency revenue can anchor structures that sovereign-linked offtake cannot. Demand quality is assessed buyer by buyer.
Working on an opportunity in a specific market?
Bring us the country and the context. We will assess the opportunity through these fundamentals and tell you honestly what we see.