British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has committed US$20 million to Anzana Electric Group to support the construction of run-of-river hydropower projects across Africa.

Run-of-river hydropower can play an important role in expanding access to reliable, renewable electricity. However, smaller projects under 10 MW often struggle to secure long-term debt financing. BII’s facility is designed to help address this challenge by reducing the high upfront costs and long timelines usually associated with arranging project-specific financing.

This will support Anzana to accelerate the development of small and medium scale hydropower projects in East, Central, and Southern Africa, with the first project expected to be in Zambia.

Through this facility, Anzana expects to deliver 10 MW of new distributed baseload generation capacity by 2030. This is expected to generate more than 50 GWh of clean electricity each year for national and regional power grids and high-demand centres.

The portfolio is also expected to create more than 500 jobs during construction and operations, while expanding electricity access and supporting economic activity across the targeted regions.

Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa at British International Investment, said: “Africa faces a significant energy access gap, with nearly 600 million people without electricity. We’re committed to working with partners like Anzana to support Mission 300 and provide electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. Through this financing, we’re helping countries transition to renewable power, strengthen electricity networks, and deliver clean, reliable energy to millions of households.”

Brian Kelly, Anzana Electric Group’s CEO, commented: “This facility is an important milestone for Anzana as we scale our platform across Africa and expand on our close partnership with BII. Through an end-to-end model spanning generation and distribution, including customer connections, we ensure consistent reliability and quality across the full power value chain. Our focus on strong governance, disciplined execution, and strategic corridor development allows us to deliver power where it is needed most while supporting national government objectives for sustained long-term economic growth,”