Zambia results-based financing facility targets 120,000 homes with solar
Zambia’s Rural Electrification Authority opened the call for proposals on 15 October for its Results-Based Financing Facility under the World Bank-backed ASCENT Zambia programme, which pays private providers once their solar home systems and clean cooking appliances have been independently verified, with targets of 120,000 and 60,000 households.
The Rural Electrification Authority launched the Results-Based Financing Facility in September under the ASCENT Zambia programme, with Eng. Arnold Simwaba, Permanent Secretary for Electricity at the Ministry of Energy, and REA chief executive Eng. Alex Mbumba presenting it alongside representatives of the World Bank and GOGLA.
The facility targets 120,000 households with solar home systems and 60,000 households with clean cooking appliances, and a later window for solar mini-grids is to add 38,500 household connections.
Private energy service providers install the approved products first and then submit claims, which are verified independently before any payment is made, so that payment depends on results that have been confirmed.
Simwaba said the facility would support the government’s commitment to universal electricity access by 2030, and Mbumba said it would help private companies reach communities where high operating costs and commercial risks have held them back.
The call for proposals opened on 15 October, and private providers of solar home systems and clean cooking appliances can now apply to the Rural Electrification Authority for the facility’s first windows.
