The Benchmarking Africa’s Minigrids Report 2024, produced by AMDA and Odyssey Energy Solutions, finds that Africa’s mini-grid sector is maturing, with larger projects and declining installation costs. However, slow funding disbursement, regulatory barriers, and weak customer demand continue to constrain expansion and financial sustainability. Its analysis draws on 27 companies, covering January 2022 to the third quarter of 2024.
The report’s principal findings and recommendations are:
• Projects are becoming larger. The share of reported mini-grids serving more than 500 residential connections increased from 8% in 2022 to 30% in 2024. Development increasingly favours markets combining supportive regulation with accessible financing, particularly Nigeria.
• Costs are falling but remain high. The report identifies an approximately 20% reduction in capital costs compared with 2020, although African deployment costs remain above international benchmarks. Better procurement, supply chains, tax treatment, and economies of scale could reduce costs further.
• Committed funding must reach projects faster. More than US$9 billion in concessional funding was committed over the preceding five years, but the report cites an estimate that only 14% had been disbursed. It recommends fewer, larger, longer-term funding programmes with simpler applications and harmonized reporting.
• Financing and regulation need practical reform. Priorities include transparent grid-expansion plans, simpler licensing, and financing that combines grants with construction credit, long-term debt, and equity. Grant-payment arrangements should help developers secure commercial lending.
• Stronger local economies improve project viability. Supporting commercial customers, agricultural equipment, and other productive electricity uses can increase consumption, revenues, and household incomes. Participating developers reported creating 6,234 jobs over four years.
The central implication is that expanding mini-grids requires coordinated action on finance, regulation, and electricity demand. Support programmes should reward reliable service alongside new connections. These findings describe the participating companies and should not be treated as fully representative of every African mini-grid market.
