- The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) has provided a US$35 million loan over a 15-year term to the 40MW Kesses solar plant to be built near Eldoret in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.
- The project will cost a total of US$87 million.
- The first part of the loan was disbursed to Alten Kenya Solarfarms BV (Alten), the Kenyan business of the Alten Group, in late December 2021.
Alten Energías Renovables Group is an independent power producer (IPP) with international know-how in developing, financing and operating photovoltaic solar power plants in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and Europe. Alten will sell all its output to Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), the national energy utility, on a 20-year take-or-pay Power Purchase Agreement. Construction of the plant has already commenced and is expected to be completed in Spring this year.
Standard Bank, which is also a long-established lender to EAIF, was the mandated lead arranger of the project finance to Alten. Standard Bank is supplying US$41 million in debt comprising a term loan, VAT and Debt Service Reserve facility. Standard Bank is acting through its CIB and Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited divisions.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
