While almost all of Senegal’s urban areas have access to electricity, about 58 percent of people in rural areas do not. For basic energy needs, these households mainly rely on fuelwood for cooking, and kerosene lamps for lighting. This is expensive and causes health and environmental hazards.

This project supports the Senegalese government’s aim to achieve universal energy access by 2025. The main causes of low electricity usage rates in the countryside are high upfront investment costs and prohibitive operational costs to run remote electricity assets, tied to low and widely dispersed electricity consumption. GCF will provide the concessional financing needed to mobilise private sector participation in providing rural households with access to modern solar-powered mini-grids in 1,000 isolated villages. Based on a public private partnership business model for investing and operating small scale green mini grids, it will promote jobs creation and include a green stimulus package to support COVID-19 recovery.