Amid the ongoing International Solar Festival in New Delhi, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), part of the World Bank Group, and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) have launched the MIGA-ISA Solar Facility on Friday, a multi-donor trust fund to accelerate solar energy’s global adoption. This initiative combines ISA’s technical expertise with MIGA’s financing capabilities to boost solar energy projects, particularly focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa in the initial stage and later plans to expand globally.

The facility will provide affordable financing options, such as to cover initial losses and reinsurance, to make solar projects more financially secure and attractive to investors. It will lower the costs of MIGA guarantees and enhance financial viability. It aims to attract private capital for solar and distributed energy projects, using risk mitigation instruments to support solar energy growth in ISA member countries.

MIGA will administer the facility, helping scale its guarantee and mobilize private capital for solar projects. The ISA has committed an initial seed funding of $2 million, to raise $10 million for the facility, which is part of ISA’s broader Global Solar Facility (GSF) with a target size of $200 million for Africa.

Ajay Mathur, Director General of ISA, expressed excitement about the partnership, emphasizing its potential to provide cost-effective decentralized solar solutions in Africa and positively impact the millions of lives of “off-grid households”. Similarly, Hiroshi Matano, Executive Vice President of MIGA, highlighted the role of the facility in providing risk protection and subsidized financing to narrow the energy gap in underdeveloped regions.

MIGA and ISA previously collaborated on a solar project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which reduced operating costs by 20% and lowered the tariffs for customers. The larger objective is to address energy access issues, for around 675 million people who are lacking electricity, mostly in Africa. The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank are working to provide at least 300 million people with electricity access by 2030.

The MIGA-ISA Solar Facility taking a significant step in providing clean, cost-effective energy to underserved regions, starting with Africa.

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