ENGIE Energy Access Empowers African with Clean Energy via Smart Integration of Mini-grids & New Solar Home System brand

ENGIE Energy Access (EEA) has announced that within 1 year of integrating its decentralized energy businesses, it has considerably expanded its customer base and is now delivering safe and reliable solar energy to 6.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

EEA has acquired approximately 200,000 new customers across its 9 markets of operation in Africa throughout 2021, despite the challenges that COVID-19 created – bringing its customer base to more than 1.3 million. Key 2021 milestones achieved to date include a growth in customers in Uganda to 600,000, Zambia to 250,000, Benin to 150,000, and Mozambique to 50,000.

EEA has equipped 13 villages with its ENGIE PowerCorner mini-grids to date, comprising 3,000 households and 200 businesses. In the past year, it has successfully strengthened the mini-grid pipeline, securing over 180 additional projects – including 60 mini-grids approved in Zambia and 11 more in Benin. EEA is focused on continuing to build out the pipeline with 3 mini-grids under construction in Benin, Nigeria and Uganda, and more pilots on the way.

“I am pleased with the excellent results we have achieved within the first year of integrating our decentralized energy solutions companies. We have strengthened synergies between our solar home system and mini-grid businesses by decreasing costs, gaining in operational efficiencies and relying on strong digital tools, such as our PAYGo platform,” said Gillian-Alexandre Huart, CEO of ENGIE Energy Access.

“We have widened our approach from inclusiveness, to dedicating more efforts into productive usage. We are now at a stage where we provide a full range of complementary solutions: strong SHS offerings and a continuously expanding mini-grid business that is instrumental to reaching higher tier capacities and offering higher tier services. I am confident that we are well on track to impacting 20 million lives by 2025.”

Achieving access to larger funding will be key to EEA meeting its ambitious mission of impacting 20 million lives by 2025. EEA reached its first million customers in part due to the support of partners such as the European Union, and the Swedish and US governments.

Universal electrification is the seventh of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that the global community has committed to achieve by 2030. ENGIE is confident that universal access to energy is achievable in the foreseeable future, through smart investments in a combination of national grid extension, solar home systems and mini-grids.