Energy

Energy

With a focus on innovation and social enterprise, Pact works to improve access to renewable energy as part of an integrated approach to create the systemic changes needed to improve people’s lives.

Globally, more than 1 billion people lack access to energy. Pact collaborates with governments, companies, investors and communities to connect supply and demand for energy, remove market distortions and work toward a future in which all people have the skills and resources they need to enjoy the many benefits of clean, modern energy.

From solar home systems and mini grids to commercial and industrial solar and grid extension, we’re advancing reliable, renewable solutions that are safer, cheaper and cleaner than typical alternatives such as wood, kerosene, candles and diesel. With increasing access to energy, the communities we serve are launching and expanding businesses, receiving improved healthcare, building systems for sanitation and clean drinking water, and expanding educational opportunities.

Expanding access to clean energy and the economic opportunities that follow are a key tool in conflict mitigation. Pact’s energy program works on a global basis, in some of the most sensitive and unstable areas, often in the absence of formal governance systems.

OUR EXPERTISE

Pact works to expand access to finance specifically tailored to the unique challenges consumers, small businesses and commercial banks have within the energy sector. As a direct provider of finance, Pact provides loans to rural households and small businesses for connections fees and productive use equipment. Pact also provides an array of technical assistance, project preparation and transaction support to project developers, commercial banks, governments and multi-lateral financial institutions for raising equity and debt financing, and to de-risk project development through loan guarantees and other mechanisms.

A pioneer and innovator in what is now among the most critical disciplines in international development, Pact has been strengthening groups and communities around the world for more than 40 years. Within the energy sector, Pact builds the capacity of government agencies to improve integrated resource planning, particularly as it relates to the integration of distributed energy resources. We build the capacity of project developers to improve their business performance and ability to raise capital. And we build the capacity of small businesses and community groups to strengthen their ability to participate in electrification projects and benefit economically once they gain access to clean energy.

Recognizing the need for broader systems strengthening, Pact also works to improve the enabling environment for expanding access to energy by providing business intelligence tools and products, organizing learning events, and contributing to the formulation of new policies for the development and integration of distributed energy resources.

OUR IMPACT

  • Through the Pact Global Micro-Finance Fund (PGMF), Pact has issued $13 million in loans to more than 31,000 households in approximately 2,200 villages for grid connections in 2020 alone.
  • Smart Power Myanmar provided financing, business training and specialized technical support to over 1,000 small businesses in order to upgrade meters, install energy efficient appliances and convert existing diesel-power operations to solar. To date, SPM has directly financed nearly 2,000 connections and enabled another 40,000, impacting the lives of 224,000 people.
  • Through the USAID Kizazi Kipya project, Pact partnered with four private companies and 26 civil societies organizations in 26 councils to implement a solar home system workforce development program. Pact and its partners recruited 153 sales agents for solar companies, who each earned an average additional income of $100 per month.
  • Through the State Accountability and Quality Improvement Project (SAQIP) project, Pact supported 30 Nigerian health facilities procure rooftop solar installations.
  • Smart Power Myanmar provided technical assistance to local banks for the design of a mini-grid equipment financing facility, through which SPM has mobilized more than $18 million in committed investment from three banks, covering approximately 80% of all mini-grid development bridge financing needs in 2020.

 

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Energy PROJECTS