Anzana Electric Group has secured a $20 million senior secured portfolio debt facility from British International Investment (BII) to support the development of distributed renewable energy projects across Africa.
The financing will be used to accelerate the construction of run-of-river hydropower projects, with an initial focus on small- and medium-scale plants in East, Central and Southern Africa. The first project financed under the facility will be in Zambia.
The companies said the facility is intended to address financing challenges faced by hydropower projects under 10MW, which often struggle to secure long-term debt funding because of high upfront costs and lengthy project financing processes.
Anzana said the financing is expected to support the delivery of 10MW of distributed baseload generation capacity by 2030, producing more than 50GWh of electricity annually for national and regional grids and industrial customers.
The company added that the portfolio could create more than 500 jobs during construction and operations while expanding electricity access in the target regions.
Chris Chijiutomi, managing director and head of Africa at British International Investment, said: “Africa faces a significant energy access gap, with nearly 600 million people without electricity. We’re committed to working with partners like Anzana to support Mission 300 and provide electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. Through this financing, we’re helping countries transition to renewable power, strengthen electricity networks, and deliver clean, reliable energy to millions of households.”
Anzana said its business model covers project development, generation, distribution and interconnection, serving both community and commercial customers.
Brian Kelly, chief executive of Anzana Electric Group, said: “This facility is an important milestone for Anzana as we scale our platform across Africa and expand on our close partnership with BII. Through an end-to-end model spanning generation and distribution, including customer connections, we ensure consistent reliability and quality across the full power value chain. Our focus on strong governance, disciplined execution, and strategic corridor development allows us to deliver power where it is needed most while supporting national government objectives for sustained long-term economic growth.”
The financing has been structured as a portfolio-level senior secured facility, allowing capital to be deployed across multiple project companies in different countries.
The companies said the approach is intended to speed up project delivery, support expansion across priority energy corridors and help meet growing demand for reliable electricity across African economies.
