The Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) was established in 2015 with the goal of avoiding greenhouse gas emissions by facilitating increased access to clean energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region which faces significant power shortages, through providing technical assistance to developers. In 2018, REPP’s mandate was broadened to support the construction of projects and to fund businesses delivering power to people across the continent through small and medium-sized initiatives, while crowding-in funding from other industry participants with particular emphasis on private sector funding.

The underlying ethos of REPP’s transactions has been to innovate, which has entailed acting with courage. Innovative projects and companies that REPP has financed include:

• MoPo, which has developed the solar-powered battery rental market in West Africa, enabling even the poorest communities to benefit from clean power;
• Mubuga, one of the first foreign direct investments in Burundi in contemporary times, as well as being a forerunner of solar power in the country, which resulted in the country’s generation capacity increasing by 10% at the time of coming online;
• Mwenga, Tanzania’s first wind-powered project, which supplies the local community through a privately-owned distribution network; and
• Nuru, a leading isolated grid operator in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”), which operates in the challenging environs of Goma, Kivu.

By investing in projects and companies, REPP has facilitated the mobilisation of third-party money including private capital, with USD191m of capital complementing REPP’s own investments. Through its leadership and ability to crowd in funding, REPP’s contribution has been magnified.

REPP’s impact cannot be measured by financial metrics alone. REPP’s investments have had a substantial impact on the lives of 1.36m people who have benefited from access to just shy of 35MW of power generation capacity built today (with an additional 274MW under development), with the majority of people benefiting from distributed energy. As further projects undertaken by independent power producers and isolated grid providers, which have the longest lead times, come on stream in the course of 2025 and 2026, capacity facilitated by REPP will be further enhanced by approximately 8MW.

At all times, good practice was and has been at the core of REPP’s investees’ operations. REPP, through its active engagement with its investees, has realised improved ESG management practices, benefiting workers, communities and the natural environment.

The company’s investment period closed at the end of 2023 and REPP is now optimising value while the company’s manager Camco continues to drive enhanced energy capabilities on the continent through REPP’s successor, REPP 2, which builds on REPP’s capital and track record. REPP 2 is structured as a blended finance vehicle to leverage public and private investors to invest in Sub-Saharan Africa’s distributed and small-scale renewable energy market. REPP 2 reached its first close of USD107m, with a further USD78m committed, in December 2024 with funding from Green Climate Fund (GCF), Norfund, FMO, BIO, Ceniarth and REPP. The team at Camco is energised to facilitate positive outcomes for the REPP portfolio, and to achieve even greater things through REPP 2.

REPP is funded by UK International Development and has been privileged to benefit from the support and vision of the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, which allowed the initial company to grow in size and scope. Camco thanks and acknowledges the European Investment Bank and the UN Environment Programme who conceived the company and our supporters for giving us the platform to be impactful. We will continue to operate with courage, conviction and consideration.