GEEREF - Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund

September 1, 2011

Newly launched investment fund to invest in renewable energy in Africa

Frontier Investment Management has raised EUR 60 million for a new Danish based investment fund, DI Frontier Market Energy & Carbon Fund. The investment fund aims to boost the development of renewable energy in Africa and contribute to reducing the emission of green house gasses.

The fund will be managed by a new investment team, Frontier Investment Management. The team has extensive experience from business development and investments in Africa and other emerging markets. While the fund is based in Denmark, it will have its main activities and offices in East Africa. Investments will be made in energy projects that will be developed in cooperation with African partners and technology suppliers that are specialized in renewable energy.

The Confederation of Danish Industry is founding father to the fund while the Danish Industry Foundation has provided support through a loan of EUR 750.000. A group of experienced Danish and international institutional investors are behind the fund. Danish investors include PFA Pension, PensionDanmark, Tryg Insurance and the Danish Government's Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). International investors are the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF) managed by the European Investment Fund/European Investment Bank, the UK development finance institution CDC Group plc, and Fabvest from South Africa. In addition, the fund’s operations are supported by the EU with a grant of EUR 120.000 and as well as USD 1 million from the Seed Capital Assistance Facility funded by GEF and the UN foundation and implemented by UNEP in partnership with AfDB and Frankfurt School - the UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance.

”The investors view the fund as a unique possibility of investing in the combination of renewable energy and Africa. Investments will conform to high ethical standards and will in addition to good returns to investors contribute to development in Africa and the fight against climate change”, says Lars Tejlgaard Jensen, partner and investment director in Frontier Investment Management.

“The Demand for energy has been growing rapidly in most African countries in the past years, a trend that is expected to continue in the future. The background to this development is that the continent has experienced high industrial growth as well as an increasing demand for energy by populations that are experiencing higher standards of living. While this development has taken place investments in power generation has been lagging behind. Today growth is hampered by load shedding and constant power cuts to the detriment of both business and consumers. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa face an enormous challenge in securing a stable supply of energy”, says Lars Tejlgaard Jensen.

“To solve the problems with energy supply, the energy sector has been wholly or partly liberalized in the region, and efforts are underway to attract private investments within renewable energy. The African continent has enormous unutilized resources within wind, solar, hydro and geothermal energy, as well as a large potential within energy generated from household waste and waste from the food industry, forestry and agriculture. Combined with the potential for generating carbon credits, the energy situation in Africa offers an attractive investment opportunity”, says Lars Tejlgaard Jensen.

Additional information can be found at: www.frontierim.dk

April 11, 2011

GEEREF commits €500,000 to the Solar for All fund

EUR 500.000 for solar energy, GEEREF launches Solar investment Fund
The Regional Technical Support Facility, of the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), supported by the European Union (EU), has awarded a grant of €500.000 to the German Canopus Foundation to develop the “Solar for all” project. The project seeks to create a new fund, which will make a total of 12-18 investments, in small and medium enterprises working in the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector

The Fund is the equity arm of the “Solar for all Initiative”. The initiative supports investments in companies focusing on lowereing the cost of access to solar energy solutions for low income households and small enterprises. To this end, the Fund will invest mainly in local system integrators and distributors, in developing countries, with a high growth, replication and distribution potential. It will also consider possible investments in small assembly companies for low cost solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and components. These companies are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia.

Through this innovative fund, GEEREF joins force with other experienced organizations, namely, Artemisia Foundation, Avina Stiftung the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Elea Foundation, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar energy Systems (ISE), Lemelson Foundation and Woodcock Foundation.

Peter W. Heller, Executive Director of Canopus Foundation delcared that "The GEEREF grant will tremendously foster our plan to make solar energy affordable for low-income communities around the world. Our core project is the Solar for All investment fund which will provide critically needed equity for solar social enterprises,"

Cyrille Arnould, Head of GEEREF added “We welcome any pioneering initiatives such as the Solar for All fund. Such initiatives have strong potential to lower the cost for the poor to access solar energy in off-grid regions while still being financially sustainable.”
The Solar for All Fund will be launched in the 4th quarter of 2011 with an initial size of at least $50m and reach a target fund size of $100m within 5 years.

http://sfa-pv.org/en/news/news.html

GEEREF signed in December 2010 a commitment of EUR 10 m to DI Frontier Market Energy and Carbon Fund

The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), has signed in December 2010 a commitment of EUR 10m in DI Frontier Market Energy and Carbon Fund, a private equity fund focusing on investments in infrastructure projects in Eastern Africa. The fund, which aims at 8-12 investments ranging from USD 3-10m, mainly through equity, targets renewable energy and energy infrastructure projects. This support will encourage sustainable development, respond to energy needs of the local population and provide much needed funding for small green projects set up by entrepreneurs in the region.

"Cyrille Arnould, Head of GEEREF, declared that the creation of DI marks an important millstones in the development of Sub-Saharan Africa financing ability to address its clean energy needs. DI should be a path finder for other fund managers and investors in demonstrating that small and medium size projects, in sub-Saharan Africa, are not only good for the environment but also financially attractive.

"Gunter Fischer, Principal at GEEREF said: "We’re backing this first-time fund because it is a unique investment opportunity in East Africa. It is a pioneering fund project and it is managed by a professional emerging investment team. We are proud to play a catalytic role in this fund that promotes sustainable development in a priority region for GEEREF"

GEEREF is an innovative Fund-of-Funds, providing global risk capital through private investment for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing countries and economies in transition, it aims to accelerate the transfer, development, use and enforcement of environmentally sound technologies for the world's poorer regions, helping to bring secure, clean and affordable energy to local people. The fund was initiated by the Directorate General for Environment and Directorate General for Europe Aid Co-operation Office (AIDCO) of the European Commission. GEEREF is both a sustainable development tool and a strong support for global efforts to combat climate change. It is sponsored by the European Union, Germany and Norway and is advised by the European Investment Bank Group (European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund).

August 3, 2010

Australian Company, Barefoot Power, secures a one million euro grant from European Union.

On 31 March 2010 Barefoot Power signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank Group (“EIB”) under which the EIB provides a grant of up to EUR 1 Million to the Company in the form of a Technical Support Facility. The first tranche of EUR 300,000 was made available to the company on 3 August 2010.

Cyrille ARNOULD, head of GEEREF at EIB declared: “BareFoot Power is one in a small league of innovative social enterprises able to bring power to the bottom of the pyramid in a sustainable fashion. We see our grant solely as a mean to accelerate its development.”

This funding is provided by the EIB Group through a European Commission-funded action entitled “Management of a Technical Support Facility (the GEEREF Regional Fund Support Facility) of the European Community in connection with the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (“GEEREF”). The European Union, represented by the European Commission awarded a contribution to the EIB Group for the implementation of the action.

Barefoot Power is a development for-profit company aiming to fight poverty and climate change in developing countries by distributing household solar light equipment and off-grid power solutions to the poor population currently using kerosene and other environmentally harmful energy sources. Prior to the grant, CO2 emission reductions from Barefoot Powers’ products were 5,000 tonnes per year – this is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes per year by the end of the grant in late 2011, and be doubling each year thereafter, achieving an economically viable scale for participation in international carbon markets.

To date, 50,000 households have been reached in the main area of operations, Uganda and Kenya, where dozens of jobs have been created by the two subsidiaries there, and another 50,000 have been reached in over 30 countries including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Haiti, India, Tanzania and Ghana. In these countries, the poor are paying $3-6 / month for around 1 litre of kerosene that is used for lighting, and additional expense for radio batteries and mobile phone recharging. This annual expenditure of $30-100/year is often 3-10% of annual income of $300-3000 / year. In the 10 year lifetime of the solar panel, and after accounting for battery replacement costs, a solar desklamp costs a user $10-25 upfront + $10-25 in replacements = $20-50, compared to $500-1000 over 10 years for kerosene and batteries – a 95% reduction in expenditure. In the Barefoot Power model, these energy assets will grow considerably over 10 years, as the expenditure is invested into larger energy systems that generate more power.

The EU-GEEREF grant has been provided to support the Company’s development from early venture mode to growth mode as it seeks further finance for expanding its shipping of containers of products to developing countries (e.g. India and Indonesia), strengthen its organisational structure and open up new markets as required, to achieve economies of scale and ramp up its positive environmental impact.

Under this agreement the Grant funds are made available over the period 31 March 2010 to 30 September 2011, and are to be utilised to support a number of initiatives that are expected to enable over 500,000 households to end their use of kerosene lighting and switch to affordable, efficient forms of electricity, mostly renewable energy powered. These initiatives include:

Development and internal operation of free open source business software to enable tracking of investors’ supplier credit on a single platform and easier collaboration
Formal structures for the aggregation of 20-100 angel investors in each of Australia, the US and EU
Raising of additional angel investor capital of USD .25 Million by 2011 and operation of a USD 4 Million Trade Finance Fund to finance 60-70 container shipments by the end of 2011
Incorporation of Barefoot subsidiaries in India and Pacific region
Involvement of up to 35 micro finance institutions by the end of 2011
Training of 2,000 entrepreneurs by the end of 2011

Co-founder of Barefoot Power, Stewart Craine acknowledges the importance of this support – “The grant from the EU through GEEREF comes at a critical point of our growth, where demand from villages is outstripping investors’ confidence to scale up activities, causing supply gaps. For the first time in 5 years, we are able to form 1-2 year plans with confidence, and install systems that show the benefits and minimal risk of our work, to unlock further crucial investment so we can complete our first goal of reaching 1 million people and set up the next stage to reach 10 million people.”

For more information, please see www.barefootpower.com or contact Stewart Craine on stewartc@barefootpower.com.

May 19, 2010

Winners picked as best off-grid lighting products in Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank Group’s Lighting Africa Program today selected five innovative products as the best able to deliver safe, reliable and cost-effective lighting to millions of people in Africa who currently rely on fuelbased lamps or other low-quality products.

The winners were judged by a panel of industry experts and announced in Nairobi, Kenya at the Lighting Africa Conference and Trade Fair. Lighting Africa is helping mobilize the private sector to provide modern, off-grid lighting – such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) - to more than 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

Twenty-four entrants were rigorously tested and judged in five categories: room lighting, task lighting, portable torch lighting, best value and top performance. No award was made in the portable torch lighting category. The winning manufacturer’s and products in the other categories are:

Barefoot Power’s ‘PowaPack’, which won in the room lighting category and also won for top performance
Greenlight Planet’s ‘Sun King’, which won in the task lighting category and took second in the best value category
Barefoot Power’s ‘Firefly’, which won in the best value category for products that cost under $40 and came second in the task lighting category
SunTransfer’s ‘SunTransfer2’, which took second place in the top performance category
D. Light Design’s ‘Nova S200’, which took second place in the room lighting category

Jean-Philippe Prosper, IFC’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said, “The awards mark the beginning of a process that will help consumers identify quality lighting products more easily. The awards were designed to recognize off-grid lighting systems that achieve high performance, while remaining affordable for low- income earners in Sub Saharan Africa.”

Lighting Africa, a joint World Bank and IFC developmental initiative, will provide feedback to the five winners and all of the 24 finalists with detailed laboratory test results and user comments to help them refine their products and ready them for the African market. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group.

Lighting Africa was established to mobilize the global lighting industry to help entrepreneurs develop off-grid, non-fuel based lighting solutions for the millions of Africans who lack access to reliable light, and to reduce barriers that interfere with the private sector’s efforts to penetrate the market.

Lighting Africa’s technical partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy in Freiburg, Germany, the National Lighting Test Center in Beijing, China, and the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University in California.

Comments and questions are welcome at: qualityassurance@lightingafrica.org

For more information on the Lighting Africa program, go to: www.lightingafrica.org

May 19, 2010

Australian Company, Barefoot Power, wins product award prizes at international off-grid lighting Conference

Barefoot Power won product awards in all tested categories for off-grid lighting products in a competition at an international conference on off-grid lighting held in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference was organised by the Lighting Africa program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank Group.

Barefoot Power is an Australian company established in 2005 by Stewart Craine and Harry Andrews. The company designs, manufactures and distributes pro-poor lighting products. The company’s vision is to provide lighting to 1 million people by 2010 and 5 million people by 2013.

Entrants at the competition were rigorously tested and judged, and awards weregranted in four categories: room lighting, task lighting, best value and top performance.

Barefoot Power won three of the four first prizes available in the room lighting, best value and top performing categories. The company also won a second prize in the task lighting category.

Harry Andrews, one of the founders and Barefoot Power’s regional manager for Africa, said, “It is encouraging that Barefoot Power received this recognition, where we were pitched against giants in the lighting industry such as Phillips.”

“Barefoot Power has been developing products in the dark, with a lack ofrelevant international standards for off grid lighting products. As a first mover in the sector, we have largely relied on feedback from end users to guide our design.”

“The product awards are a great encouragement for our company, and are most valuable as a reinforcement to customers that our products are among the best available in the market.”

“Barefoot Power’s intent has always been to make quality products more affordable to those without access to modern lighting. Winning the “best value” category has reinforced our design methodologies.”

Barefoot Power has a suite of well-respected investors, including: Oikocredit, DOEN Foundation, Grassroots Business Fund, Good Energies Foundation, CSR Capital, Grace Foundation and Calmeadow.

Mr Andrews commented that, “While our institutional investors have been essential to our growth, investment from multiple Angel investors has formed the life blood of Barefoot Power.”

“Barefoot Power is now growing at 25-50% per month and this is exhausting our current capital base. In April 2010 we secured up to EUR 1 million of grant funding from the European Union via the Technical Support Facility of the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (www.geeref.eu) , ring fenced to build our back end, which essentially is our administration, IT and key staffing requirements. This means that new investment can be wholly channelled to inventory, which is good for us and for investors.”

Mr Andrews said, “these product awards, coupled with additional investment and our continual design process, will ensure that Barefoot Power maintains its lead in the sector.”

For more information, please see www.barefootpower.com or contact Harry Andrews on harrya@barefootpower.com. For more information on Lighting Africa, see www.lightingafrica.org

December 15, 2009

€10 million for clean energy in Southern Africa: GEEREF funding continues to flow

The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF) today announced its €10 million commitment to the Evolution One Fund, which is dedicated to clean energy investment in Southern Africa. GEEREF is supported by the European Union (EU), Germany and Norway and advised by the European Investment Bank Group (the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund) to provide clean energy to emerging countries and economies in transition.

GEEREF is joined by other experienced emerging market investors, namely, CBG/Castleway Properties, International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), Norfund, the Swiss Investment fund for Emerging Markets (Sifem) and the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund).

Evolution One is a private equity fund managed by Inspired Evolution Investment Management, a South Africa-based company. Its investment philosophy is based on encouraging accelerated development and use of environmental friendly products, services and processes to reduce costs and mitigate environmental and climate change impacts, thereby promoting mutually reinforcing benefits for society.

The fund will primarily target renewable energy generation, energy efficiency and other sustainable sectors such as water purification, waste management and recycling. The focus will be on micro-enterprises, small, medium and broad-based economic empowerment. Evolution One Fund is one of the few funds focusing on clean technologies in Africa where environmental and social issues make them vitally important drivers of economic development.

Christopher Clarke, Executive Director at Inspired Evolution Investment Management, said, “We are delighted by the commitment of GEEREF in the Evolution One Fund. The EIB Group’s experience in development and environment related finance is of great value to us. We look forward to working with GEEREF in the coming years.”

Cyrille Arnould, Head of GEEREF Front Office added, “We are particularly pleased that GEEREF’s second investment reaches the African continent. It will support South Africa’s efforts to move away from fossil energy and set a precedent for others to follow.”

This is the second commitment GEEREF announced this month. On December 11, GEEREF made public its €12.5 million commitment to Berkeley Energy’s Renewable Energy Asia Fund (REAF), which primarily focuses on India. GEEREF is to host its COP15 side event in Copenhagen on December 17th, during which managers of both funds will present their investment plans.

Background information

Inspired Evolution Investment Management is a specialized, boutique investment management company and authorised financial services provider established by Consensus Business Group, Pan-African Capital Holdings, Alluvia Group and Capital Evolution, as its four founding partners. Inspired Evolution Investment Management has first mover advantage to lead cleantech investing in emerging markets in southern Africa. The investment team of nine, including six principals, a chief investment officer and two analysts, is based in South Africa and the UK and has over 60 years collective track record in sustainability, private equity and venture capital investing. This experience includes numerous cleantech market segments such as solar, wind, fuel cells, biogas, biofuels, energy efficiency, waste and water investments.

GEEREF is an innovative fund of funds, providing global risk capital through private investment for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing countries and economies in transition. GEEREF aims to accelerate the transfer, development, use and enforcement of environmentally sound technologies for the world's poorer regions, helping to bring secure, clean and affordable energy to local people. GEEREF is a sustainable development tool that supports global efforts to combat climate change.

Contacts:

For more information about GEEREF and its commitment to the Evolution One Fund, please contact Dr. Gunter Fischer, Principal, Tel: +352 4379 85211 and Dr. Tao Ren, Investment Officer, Tel: +352 4379 85207, Email: geeref@eif.org.

The press contact at EIB is Mr. Richard Willis, Tel.: +352 621555758, Email: willis@eib.org and at EIF is Ms. Joëlle Harvey, Tel: +352 4379184340, Email: j.harvey@eif.org.

December 11, 2009

GEEREF Pumps €12.5 million into Renewable Energy in Asia

The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), supported by the European Union (EU), Germany and Norway and advised by the European Investment Bank Group (the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund) to provide clean energy to emerging countries and economies in transition, has made a €12.5 million commitment to Berkeley Energy’s Renewable Energy Asia Fund (REAF). GEEREF has been joined by 5 other experienced emerging market institutional investors (BIO, CDC, Calvert, DEG and FMO), committing to REAF’s first closing of EUR 50.7 million.

REAF will target Asia (primarily India) where there are tremendous opportunities for renewable energy investment. REAF aims to invest into renewable energy projects in their development stage, transform these investments into operating portfolios and generate superior returns through successful exits. The Fund will specifically focus on operationally and economically mature technologies which are best placed to help Asia bridge its current electricity supply/demand gap (primarily with wind, small hydro and solar energy).

“We are proud of this new partnership between the GEEREF and REAF. The European Investment Bank Group and GEEREF have deep in-house experience in the field of renewable energy and will be valuable contributors to this venture’s success. We look forward to developing a mutually beneficial relationship.” said TC Kundi, Berkeley Energy.

Set up by the European Union, Germany and Norway in 2008, GEEREF primarily invests in renewable energy and sustainable energy infrastructure funds and similar investment structures tailored to suit local needs and conditions. GEEREF will typically invest tickets below €10 million, a market niche usually ignored by private investors and international finance institutions. Geographically, GEEREF targets funds in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region, non-EU Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. GEEREF has secured a commitment from the European Union, Germany and Norway for a total of €108 million, which will be invested over a period spanning from 2009 to 2012. It is envisaged that further financing from other public and private sources will be forthcoming.

"We are delighted to announce our commitment to REAF while the COP-15 conference is underway. 1.6 billion people worldwide still have no regular access to reliable energy services. GEEREF investments will accelerate the development and deployment of environmentally sound power generation, and thereby help to bring secure and clean energy supplies to people in less privileged regions of the world," said Cyrille Arnould, Head of GEEREF Front Office.

Berkeley Energy is a private equity fund manager specialising in renewable energy infrastructure investments in developing markets. The firm balances operational and transaction expertise combining the project development, construction and operations expertise of an industrial firm, with the flexibility, financial rigour and discipline of a financial sponsor. Berkeley Energy has delivered >200 power generating assets in developed and emerging markets (>115 in renewable energy) and its four partners TC Kundi, Robert Renfrew, Jeremy Smith and Alastair Vere Nicoll combine >75 years of development, construction and operations and investment expertise. More information is available on its website: www.berkeley-energy.com.

GEEREF is an innovative fund of funds, providing global risk capital through private investment for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing countries and economies in transition. GEEREF aims to accelerate the transfer, development, use and enforcement of environmentally sound technologies for the world's poorer regions, helping to bring secure, clean and affordable energy to local people. GEEREF is both a sustainable development tool and support for global efforts to combat climate change. GEEREF was initiated by the Directorate General for Environment and Directorate General for Europe Aid Co-operation (AIDCo).

For more information about GEEREF, please contact Dr. Tao Ren, Investment Officer, Tel: +352 4379 85207, Email: geeref@eif.org.