NextEnergy establishes EUR400m fund for African renewable energy

NextEnergy Capital has started fundraising for ix:Africa, a EUR400m private equity impact fund dedicated to ethical investment in renewable energy, environmental business and clean technology projects in Africa.

Together with IDC, the South African development bank, NextEnergy has also committed seed capital to launch the fund’s showcase project, a 6.5MW solar energy development in the South Africa’s Waterberg region, 300km north of Johannesburg.

Total project investment stands at ZAR200m with ix:Africa investing ZAR120m in return for a 57% stake in the project. The remaining 43% will be held by local investors such as IDC.

This showcase project has been developed to demonstrate the potential for impact investing to generate considerable social, economic and environmental dividends that will positively affect financial returns to investors”, explains Stefano D M Sommadossi, founding partner at NextEnergy Capital and a senior executive at ix:Africa.

“We know that an ethical approach to capital investment can deliver extremely attractive returns, especially in renewable energy. Ethics and returns can be symbiotic.”