We first recognized the need for the P-REC Aggregation Facility (PAF) after facilitating the initial Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-REC) transactions in 2020. Those early deals - such as Microsoft’s first purchase of P-RECs from Nuru’s solar mini-grid in Goma, DRC - involved the issuance of P-RECs from new minigrids to fund community projects, like public streetlights to enhance security and livelihoods, and solar hospital electrification to improve healthcare.
We soon learned from our project developer partners that what they needed most was affordable, early stage capital for the minigrids themselves. We also realized that corporate clean energy buyers typically procure RECs on an annual basis via short-term contracts and that they have little appetite for delivery and other risks. While short-term P-REC purchases continue to support impactful community projects in fragile settings, our vision has always been for P-RECs to help catalyze new clean energy project development in these geographies. Once we identified the need for long-term contracts and upfront, catalytic capital for high impact minigrid projects, we developed a concept for a financing facility that leverages forward P-REC sales to address this gap. Five years later, and with guidance and support from many key partners - including the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, the International Climate Finance Accelerator Luxembourg, the Catalytic Climate Finance Facility, and our fund manager partner Camco - we sit on the precipice of launching our solution: the P-REC Aggregation Facility.
The facility allows for new projects that are not yet financed to monetize P-RECs up front in order to help bring these projects to life. Once launched, PAF will seek to deploy USD 11 million to qualified P-REC projects that are not yet financed or built in 14 fragile states in Africa. Project developers will receive up to 10% of construction costs, secured against future P-REC issuance under off-take agreements of up to 10 years. PAF will then aggregate the P-RECs and offer the issued certificates to corporate buyers. The re-sale revenue will be used to repay the initial funders of the facility - the Nordic Development Fund and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. The contracted revenue and upfront payment for developers is designed to de-risk projects and incentivize additional finance from other sources, enabling projects to reach financial close faster and with less expense, while leaving developer equity intact. Developers also benefit from a single-counterparty process, with PAF handling the administrative requirements associated with issuing, buying, and selling P-RECs.
In addition to providing upfront financing to project developers, PAF will also offer corporate buyers a streamlined procurement route for high-integrity renewable energy certificates from a portfolio of projects that provide first-time electrification to communities. Rather than navigating multiple intermediaries and geographies independently, buyers can procure P-RECs — each representing one MWh of verified clean energy generation with measurable socio-economic co-benefits — in a single transaction and with one counterparty. These purchases offer a solution for companies with Scope 2 emissions within the same market as the source of the P-RECs. They also represent a solution for companies that seek to reduce the Scope 3 emissions from their suppliers’ and customers’ electricity use. In addition, P-RECs may soon offer a solution for companies seeking to achieve their Ongoing Emissions Responsibility (OER) target under the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and optimize their decarbonization impact based on potential changes to the GHG Protocol’s guidance on consequential impact accounting.
PAF represents a significant step forward in mobilising private and public capital for renewable energy in some of the world's most underserved regions. By acting as an intermediary between corporate buyers and mini-grid developers across 14 fragile countries in Sub-Saharan African markets, PAF addresses a critical financing gap while delivering measurable climate, social, and economic outcomes.
The projected impact of PAF is substantial: it aims to extend first-time electricity access to 856,000 people, support 71MW of new renewable generation capacity, avoid 732,000 tCO₂e, electrify 69,000 microbusinesses, and mobilize USD 137 million from private and public sources — along with projected improvements in security and overall levels of peacefulness in the host communities.
Next Steps
From an initial concept five years ago, PAF is now on the verge of becoming operational. PAF will dramatically scale the P-REC market and channel much-needed financing to transformative projects in some of the hardest-to-reach markets. The project pipeline is expanding as developers learn about the upfront capital available through P-REC forward sales, while buyer interest in PAF-issued P-RECs is growing across sectors.
Developers with eligible solar mini-grid or run-of-river hydro projects in Burundi, CAR, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, or Uganda are encouraged to reach out to discuss participation in PAF. Corporate buyers seeking high-impact, clean energy procurement should engage now to explore spot and forward contract options.
AfDB SEFA Press Release on PAF
Contacts:
PAF Inquiries:
Katie Retz
kretz@energypeacepartners.com
P-REC Qualification Inquiries
Linda Wamune
lwamune@energypeacepartners.com
P-REC Purchase Inquiries:
Doug Miller
dmiller@energypeacepartners.com