Emerging distributed renewable energy (DRE) markets demand creativity and adaptability in the deployment of capital. Conventional financing — designed for larger, mature projects — often struggles to meet the needs of early-stage developers, where risks can be high, track records limited and business models still evolving. REPP was established to bridge this gap, bringing both flexibility and innovation to investment and deal structuring.

Investments and Deal Structuring, paper four in the REPP Lessons Learned series, examines how REPP translated this need for flexibility into an evolving financial toolkit under Camco’s management. It tracks how grants, results-based finance and development loans laid the early foundation, while equity, flexible debt and hybrid instruments later enabled bespoke financing packages. By combining multiple instruments and adapting structures to individual projects, REPP reduced transaction costs, tested new approaches and demonstrated that well-tailored financing could unlock private capital and cultivate markets.

The paper explores how this adaptability played out in practice, with REPP balancing impact and commercial rigour through deals that were meaningful for developers while remaining attractive to co-investors.

A key focus of the paper is a section on mini-grids and solar home systems (SHS), offering practical insights from projects on the ground. REPP’s experience highlights that DRE models face distinct operational challenges due to low electricity demand. Mini-grids often see low household usage early on, making results-based financing and productive-use equipment important for driving consumption and financial viability. Crucially, anchor commercial customers provide the steady demand that underpins financial resilience. Mini-grids are particularly suited to peri-urban areas, where higher economic activity increase the likelihood of securing such customers, while also enabling grids to stimulate local commerce.

SHS businesses, meanwhile, face complex cash flow cycles across inventory and payments, requiring deep capital reserves and patient, equity-like support to thrive despite customers’ variable ability to pay. Together, these lessons demonstrate that early-stage DRE projects demand more than capital — they require flexible, tailored support that responds to operational realities and evolving market conditions.

REPP’s work shows that in such markets, finance facilities must be designed for flexibility and adaptability. Its tools and practices enabled rapid learning, pragmatic problem-solving and targeted support to developers who might otherwise have struggled to attract capital. Flexibility went beyond instruments to include operational agility and a hands-on approach, building trust and responding to shifting project and market needs. Successfully balancing impact, market activation and commercial viability requires clear priorities, strong governance and ongoing iteration — a reminder that catalytic finance is as much about process as product.