Portfolio Partner Profile
CrossBoundary Energy Access Platform (CBEAP)
CrossBoundary Energy Access Platform (CBEAP) is Africa’s first aggregated project finance facility for mini-grids – independent, decentralized electricity systems, powered by solar and other renewable energy sources, that can function separately from a national energy grid. Currently, over 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to energy. While there are efforts to improve access to electricity through main energy grid expansions and sources such as solar home systems, as the population continues to grow, 600 million people are still expected to lack access to energy by 2030. Expanding the use of mini-grids, particularly in rural areas across Africa, can help meet these needs.
CBEAP aims to increase access to reliable renewable energy for households and small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa and further the Platform’s key goals, which include:
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Connecting 200,000 homes and businesses and bringing electricity to 1 million people
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Proving a new model for financing rural electrification in Africa
CBEAP is part of CrossBoundary Group, a frontier markets investment firm with a mission to unlock private capital to drive strong returns and lasting growth in underserved markets. The firm has over 160 investment and other professionals across its offices in various cities including Nairobi (operational headquarters), Lagos, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Goma, Kampala, Bamako, Dakar, Tunis, Abidjan, Conakry, Dubai, London, Bangkok, Washington DC, and New York City, Amman, Beirut, Bogota, Chisinau, Erbil, Mumbai, Port au Prince, San Salvador and Tashkent.
Featured Impact Story
Impact Story
Mini-grid system powering communities in Nigeria
The CrossBoundary Energy Access Platform aims to connect homes and small businesses in rural areas across Africa with access to reliable renewable electricity. One of the projects supported by CBEAP is a mini-grid system developed by PowerGen in Rokota, Nigeria (above).
Pictured below is a closer view of the mini-grid system that uses both solar and batteries to provide 24/7 grid-quality power to the community in Rokota, Nigeria.
Photo credit: PowerGen Renewable Energy mini-grids
Impact Story
Increasing access to renewable energy in Tanzania
Another project supported by the CrossBoundary Energy Access Platform and developed by PowerGen in 2019, is located in Tanzania. This system uses 60 mini-grids to connect over 34,000 people to a reliable source of renewable energy.
Photo credit: PowerGen Renewable Energy mini-grids
Renewable Energy
