After Garden City carport, firms to power Abuja mall with solar

?Garden City Mall, Nairobi, is home to Africa’s largest solar carport, thanks to a collaboration between Actis and CrossBoundary Energy (CBE). And recently, the two firms announced an agreement to make a Nigerian mall solar powered.

“CBE will finance the 600kW rooftop solar plant and will sell power to Jabi Lake Mall through an innovative 15-year Power Purchase Agreement. The power offers a cheaper energy alternative and will reduce the shopping centre’s CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions by over 13,000 tonnes,” said a statement on the agreement. The mall was developed by Actis.

“Recognizing our responsibility to wider society is central to our business and embedded into our investment processes. Cheaper and cleaner power through solar provides an unmissable commercial and environmental opportunity and is fundamentally aligned to Actis’ belief that values drive value,” James Mittell, Principal in Actis’ Energy Investment Team, said.

Acquisition

At the same time, Actis announced last week that they have acquired BioTherm Energy (BioTherm) – a South Africa-based, pan-African renewable energy businesses – from Denham Capital, a global private equity firm.

This transaction follows Actis’ recent acquisition of Kipeto Energy, Kenya’s second largest wind power project, which it brought to financial close late last year.

Actis is the largest private capital investment firm in Africa, the largest private capital real estate investor in Africa, and one of the world’s largest renewables investors. It has US$3.4 billion (Sh 351 billion) of assets under management on the continent, and spread across real estate, private equity investments, energy and infrastructure.

“To date, Actis has invested US$1.1bn through 5.2 GW in the African energy sector,” said the statement announcing the deal.