AYV News, August 5, 2024

Chief Minister, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh has signed an Agreement with Mini-Grid Developers for the enhancement of the Off-Grid Market in Sierra Leone.

The Chief Minister and Mini-Grid Operators reached an agreement to stabilise the off-grid energy market and accelerate rural electrification.

The Agreement was facilitated by the Office of the Chief Minister, and the Presidential Initiative for Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security, (Pl-CREF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance (MOF), European Union (EU), Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), the World Bank Country Office (WB/SL), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Sustainable Energy for All and other stakeholders.

The Agreement lays out specific actions to be taken by the Government of Sierra Leone to enable growth in the mini-grid sector including a mutually agreed formula for tariff adjustment, fiscal incentives for renewable energy technologies, measures to reduce transaction costs, expedite customs clearance procedures, and an injection of public funds into the sector.

Additionally, the Agreement has set up a multi-stakeholder Mini-Grids Accelerator Working Group co-chaired by Dr. Eldred Taylor – Deputy Minister 1 and Dr. Kandeh Yumkella – the Chairman PI-CREF and includes private sector operators, development partners to drive the implementation of the Agreement and other policy actions.

“The Agreement demonstrates the government’s firm commitment to public-private partnerships in its energy transition drive,” said Chairman Yumkella.

With support from FCDO and SEForALL, the working group together with the Sierra Leone Electricity Water

Regulatory Commission, (SLEWRC) have commenced the revision of the mini-grid regulations and the renewable energy policy, ensuring their alignment with the proposed Electricity/Energy Act, and a mapping of capacity building needs and skills development in the sector.

Dr. Eldred Tunde Taylor, Deputy Minister 1 noted that “the vision of the current administration is to expand energy access for rural communities by scaling up mini-grids to many more communities beyond the current 100 communities over the next 4 years”.

In line with this intervention, mini-grids are currently being rolled out to 75 new communities; (EU: 50-60 and SEForALL: 17). The Agreement seeks to unlock private sector investments for mini-grids by creating a predictable tariff and a viable market.