British International Investment has committed a $20 million senior secured debt facility to Anzana Electric Group in a major push to expand distributed renewable energy infrastructure across Africa, as investors intensify efforts to close the continent’s deepening electricity gap and accelerate the shift toward cleaner power systems.
The financing, announced in Nairobi this week, will support the development of Anzana’s portfolio of run-of-river hydropower projects across East, Central and Southern Africa, with Zambia set to host the first project under the new facility.
The deal comes as Africa faces one of the world’s largest energy deficits. Nearly 600 million people across the continent still lack access to electricity, according to development finance estimates, constraining industrialisation, healthcare delivery, digital connectivity and broader economic growth.
The facility was provided by British International Investment, the UK government’s development finance institution and impact investor, as part of wider efforts aligned with Mission 300, an international initiative targeting electricity access for 300 million Africans by 2030.
Unlike traditional project-by-project financing structures, the Anzana facility has been designed as a portfolio-level senior secured financing arrangement, allowing capital to be deployed across multiple projects and jurisdictions simultaneously.
The structure is intended to solve one of Africa’s biggest renewable energy bottlenecks, access to long-term financing for smaller hydropower plants below 10 megawatts.
While large-scale renewable projects often attract international capital, smaller distributed energy projects across Africa frequently struggle to secure funding because of high upfront development costs, fragmented regulatory systems and lengthy project financing timelines.
The BII-backed facility aims to change that dynamic by enabling faster deployment of capital across Anzana’s growing pipeline.
Through the financing, Anzana expects to unlock 10 megawatts of newly installed distributed baseload renewable generation capacity by 2030, generating more than 50 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually for national grids and high-demand commercial centres.
The projects will primarily focus on small- and medium-scale run-of-river hydropower plants, with additional potential for solar hybridisation to improve energy reliability and grid resilience.
Run-of-river systems, which generate electricity using the natural flow of rivers without requiring large-scale reservoirs, are increasingly gaining attention in Africa’s energy transition because of their lower environmental footprint and ability to serve remote or underserved regions.
Anzana said its operating model integrates project development, generation, power distribution and interconnection, allowing the company to deliver electricity directly to communities, businesses and industrial users while maintaining control across the broader energy value chain.
The company estimates the portfolio will create more than 500 jobs during construction and operations, while supporting local industries and economic activity across target regions.
Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa at British International Investment, framed the deal as part of a broader effort to tackle Africa’s structural energy crisis.
“Africa faces a significant energy access gap, with nearly 600 million people without electricity,” Chijiutomi said.
“We’re committed to working with partners like Anzana to support Mission 300 and provide electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. Through this financing, we’re helping countries transition to renewable power, strengthen electricity networks, and deliver clean, reliable energy to millions of households.”
The transaction also highlights growing investor interest in distributed renewable infrastructure as African governments struggle to finance large-scale national grid expansion programmes amid rising debt pressures and tightening global capital markets.
Analysts increasingly view decentralised energy systems including mini-grids, distributed hydropower and hybrid renewable installations, as critical to closing Africa’s electrification gap faster and more cost-effectively than relying solely on centralised grid infrastructure.
Anzana Chief Executive Brian Kelly said the financing marked a strategic milestone for the company’s continental expansion plans.
“This facility is an important milestone for Anzana as we scale our platform across Africa and expand on our close partnership with BII,” Kelly said.
“Through an end-to-end model spanning generation and distribution, including customer connections, we ensure consistent reliability and quality across the full power value chain.”
“Our focus on strong governance, disciplined execution, and strategic corridor development allows us to deliver power where it is needed most while supporting national government objectives for sustained long-term economic growth,” he added.
The financing also deepens BII’s involvement in Africa’s electricity infrastructure sector.
Anzana is backed by private American investors alongside Gridworks Development Partners, which is wholly owned by British International Investment and specialises in electricity transmission and distribution investments across Africa.
The investment underscores a broader shift in African energy financing, where development finance institutions are increasingly moving toward blended finance structures and catalytic capital deployment to crowd in private investment into high-risk but high-impact infrastructure sectors.
Africa accounts for roughly 17% of the world’s population but less than 4% of global electricity generation, according to international energy data. Despite abundant renewable energy resources, financing constraints continue to limit the pace of energy infrastructure deployment across much of the continent.
As energy demand accelerates alongside rapid urbanisation, industrial growth and digital expansion, distributed renewable power systems are emerging as one of Africa’s most strategically important investment frontiers.
For Anzana, the BII facility represents more than project financing. It is a test case for whether innovative portfolio-level funding models can unlock scalable renewable infrastructure deployment across African markets traditionally viewed as too fragmented or risky for conventional lenders.
