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NEA Ambatolampy II (formerly Green Yellow)

Posted

December 2022

Sector

Power/Energy

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GuarantCo and African Guarantee Fund provide Green Yellow with a MGA 23.5 billion (c. EUR 5 million) guarantee to finance a 20 MW solar plant extension

GreenYellow II

Transaction benefits

GuarantCo and African Guarantee Fund (AGF) have provided GreenYellow, with a credit guarantee of MGA 23.5 billion (c. EUR 5 million) with a nine-year tenor to a syndicate of local banks to finance a 20 MW solar plant extension alongside a 5 MW solar battery storage system in Ambatolampy, Madagascar. Société Générale acted as the main lender.  GuarantCo provided a guarantee of MGA 23.6 billion (EUR 5 million) and AGF a guarantee of MGA 9.4 billion (EUR 2 million). This is the second phase of an existing 20 MW solar power plant operation that GuarantCo and AGF helped refinance in 2020.

Development benefits

The project will provide improved electricity access to around 285,000 people supporting SDG 7 and reduce emissions by 34,000 tonnes of CO2 through the displacement of thermal power supporting SDG 13. Only 15 percent of the population have access to electricity with considerable disparity between urban (79 percent) and rural (8 percent) areas.

 

GuarantCo has been the first company to mobilise local currency from commercial banks for utility scale solar projects in Madagascar. Through demonstration and replication, this is expected to enhance the resilience of the power sector by diversifying away from thermal power, reducing the cost of generation and improving the sustainability of the state-owned electric utility and water company in Madagascar.