A new platform to support small-scale and distributed renewable-energy projects within sub-Saharan Africa has been launched, with initial targets of getting 150 MW of new generation off the ground over the next five years.

The Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP), developed by the European Investment Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme, aimed to provide projects smaller than 25 MW a “toolbox” of free assistance to reach financial close and break ground.

A consortium comprising clean energy company Camco Clean Energy and climate markets-focused GreenStream, was appointed as the REPP’s manager and tasked with the delivery of technical assistance, derisking of projects, facilitating access to risk mitigation instruments and debt providers and providing results-based finance to qualifying projects.

The development of smaller-scale projects was often hindered by a lack of access to financial and structuring services that were traditionally abundantly available to larger projects.

The REPP platform was designed to overcome the barriers and some €70-million in initial donor funding had been secured to date to support small to medium-sized projects in the range of 1 MW to 25 MW in energy production capacity.

“Small-scale and distributed renewable energy has significant potential to provide energy to communities that would not otherwise have access, making development of the sector critical to growth and development,” the REPP said in a statement.

The new platform would initially target projects in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo and Zimbabwe.

According to REPP’s website, onshore wind, solar photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, geothermal, waste-to-energy, tidal power, run-of-river hydropower, biomass and biogas were eligible renewable-energy technologies.