The Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund has mobilized $300 million.
African institutional investors increased private capital contributions by 3.7 times from 2022 to 2024.
African institutional investors have less than 2% allocated to the continent’s infrastructure.
Africa50, a pan-African infrastructure investor backed by 33 sovereign shareholders, is building a replicable private financing model for Africa’s grid infrastructure after completing the continent’s first fully privately financed electricity transmission project in Kenya. The model targets a sector that requires between $80 billion and $140 billion in investment by 2040, but has attracted just 0.3% of Africa’s energy financing, stranding power generation capacity and leaving millions of people without access to the grid.
In an exclusive interview with Energy Capital & Power, Africa50 Senior Investment Director Karim Mirsi explained that the $311 million Kenya Transmission Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model is the basis for driving investment to the continent. The project features the construction of two high-voltage transmission lines and associated substations and operates under a 30-year concession.
“The aim is to create a scalable blueprint for increasing private sector investment in networks critical to closing the electricity access gap on the continent,” he said.
Can private capital close Africa’s electricity transmission gap?
The Kenya project was structured as a PPP between Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) and Power Grid Corporation of India, providing the sector with the proof of concept it has long lacked.
“For too long, investments in electricity transmission in Africa have been considered too complex for the private sector to finance,” Muhirsi said. “Kenya Transmission PPP is a game changer.”
Africa50 is now working to replicate this model, using its sovereign shareholder relationships to address the regulatory and risk allocation barriers that have traditionally held private capital back.
Mobilizing African institutional capital
The transmission push is taking place in parallel with changes in Africa’s infrastructure financing. The Africa 50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund mobilized $300 million, while domestic contributions to private financing in Africa will reach $650 million in 2024, a 3.7-fold increase from 2022. The majority of this comes from African institutional investors.
Despite that momentum, Muhirsi pointed out that African institutional investors currently have less than 2% allocated to African infrastructure. “We believe that if African institutions lead, global investors will follow,” he said. “This domestic commitment is the single strongest source of confidence we can offer our international co-investors.”
Africa50 also launched the African Green Infrastructure Development Fund (AGIA-PD) Coalition (AGIA-PD), with support from the African Development Bank, KfW, the West African Development Bank, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and others, reaching an initial completion of $118 million in August 2025. The fund targets early-stage mixed capital for green infrastructure projects that have stalled before achieving bankability, and aims to foster up to $10 billion in private investment over the long term.
Can governments finance the energy transition without taking on new debt?
Beyond financing, Muhirsi cited asset recycling as a structural tool for governments seeking to finance the energy transition without increasing government debt. Africa50 piloted this approach with the Government of Gambia through a $100 million concession for the Senegambia Bridge, due for completion in 2024 and freeing up public capital for reinvestment in new infrastructure.
“This is a capital-light solution to a capital-heavy problem,” Muhirsi explained. He added that energy assets with long operating lives and stable cash flows fit the model more strongly than transportation infrastructure, which was first tested.
As African countries seek to expand transmission infrastructure to support expanded energy access, replicable private financing models like Africa50 can catalyze private sector-led investment across sectors. Muhirsi said the success of Kenya’s project was key to driving a “consistent drumbeat of reform” and demonstrated how private investment in electricity transmission can be a powerful driver of economic growth.
