Marlon Dos Santos’s project in Mozambique awarded Phanes Group’s first Solar Incubator program

Phanes Group, an integrated end-to-end solar provider headquartered in Dubai, has announced Marlon Dos Santos and his 50 MW Kitaka Solar Project in Mozambique as the winner of its first Phanes Group Solar Incubator program.

The evaluation session was held yesterday at the “Unlocking Solar Capital: Africa 2017” event in Abidjan. Three shortlisted finalists presented their projects to a live panel, which ultimately selected Asis Energy Solutions’ proposal as most aligned with the competition’s mission to develop solar energy projects with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) component.

The Phanes Group Solar Incubator, which identifies PV projects of potential in sub-Saharan Africa and provides them with access to funding, and commercial and technical knowledge, was held in partnership with Hogan Lovells, Proparco, responsAbility, RINA Consulting and Solarplaza.

Representatives of the partners, including Christopher Cross, Partner at Hogan Lovells, Emmanuelle Matz, Head of Energy and Infrastructure Division at Proparco, Lee Smith, Project Manager for Africa RINA Consulting, Joseph Nganga, Executive Director at responsAbility Renewable Energy Holding, Martin Haupts, CEO at Phanes Group, and Ousseynou Nakoulima, representing African Development Bank, made up the evaluation panel that ultimately decided upon the winning project.

The inaugural Phanes Group Incubator received applications for solar PV projects at the volume of almost 1 GW across 15 sub-Saharan African countries. The other shortlisted projects were the Akouédo Solar Project with a capacity of 2x25 MW in Côte d’Ivoire and the Solar Project in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia with a capacity 100 MW.

“We are proud and excited to announce Marlon Dos Santos as the recipient of our inaugural Solar Incubator program. It was a close match—all the finalists presented high-quality projects with the potential to transform their respective communities. Not only the CSR component of each proposal was the key factor in our evaluation but also the passion of Marlon to bring a project to life in a difficult market where the expertise and the training he will be receiving might be essential to help him to succeed. We look forward to welcoming him to Dubai, and making this project successful, along with our partners,” said Martin Haupts, CEO, Phanes Group.

The winner will get the opportunity to enter a partnership with Phanes Group to co-develop and deliver a bankable project, in which they will hold a long-term stake. This partnership will include a 2-month blended mentorship program, with a 4-day intensive kick-off workshop in Dubai, UAE, and remote sessions with Phanes Group’s team of experts as well as the rest of the Phanes Group Solar Incubator partners. It will also include the funding to bring the project to financial close.

“We would like to thank all the applicants who took the time to submit their proposals. The response to the project has reaffirmed our belief in the potential of the PV industry in sub-Saharan Africa. The nascent industry holds a great potential of talent, but project delivery and bankability remain a challenge for developers and investors in the region. We launched the Phanes Group Solar Incubator initiative as a way to address these obstacles, and we’re excited to work with Marlon Dos Santos and bring the project to fruition, increasing access to clean, reliable energy on the African continent,” Haupts continued. “Finally, I would also like to thank our partners for their great collaboration and support for the Phanes Group Solar Incubator.”

There are currently more than 620 million people in sub-Saharan Africa living without electricity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which works to ensure global access to reliable, affordable and clean energy. The Phanes Group Solar Incubator aims to support developers not just in the funding phase, but throughout the project development and delivery phases, to ensure important, CSR-focused projects are brought to financial close. Phanes Group will be launching a second edition of the Phanes Group Solar Incubator next year, and welcomes interested candidates to begin thinking of project proposals.

For more information regarding the next edition of the Phanes Group Solar Incubator, please visit our webpage www.phanesgroup.com/incubator

More about Phanes Group’s Solar Incubator

Phanes Group’s inaugural Solar Incubator, held under the theme of “Your Project, Our Expertise, For a Sustainable Future”, will be supported by Hogan Lovells, Proparco, responsAbility, RINA Consulting and Solarplaza.

The initiative aims to select and develop PV project opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa that haven’t been able to gain access to funding and necessary know-how. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of this initiative; along with the project details a solid CSR concept must be submitted and will be further developed during the incubator phase, and implemented in parallel with execution of the PV project.

The candidates of the winning project(s) will enter a partnership with Phanes Group and hold a long-term stake in the project, collaboratively bringing it to financial close. With the incubator, Phanes Group and its partners will provide the winner(s) with extensive mentorship and knowledge transfer throughout the project.

The Solar Incubator phase will kick off with an intensive 4-day face-to-face workshop in Dubai, UAE, working with Phanes Group’s team and its partners, setting the foundations to deliver bankable projects. During that phase the winner(s) will gain access to commercial and technical know-how covered by experts from project finance, project development and execution, legal and CSR followed by further remote mentoring sessions for additional two months.