Assessing Market Readiness for Private Investment in Solar Hybrid Mini Grids

In spring 2024, the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank launched an ambitious effort to connect 300 million people in Africa with electricity access by 2030. The subsequent M300 Africa Energy Summit held in January in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was a landmark gathering focused on accelerating energy access across Africa. Renewable energy mini grids are expected to play a key role in this deployment. But for a scale-up commensurate with the need, governments-with support from donors-must create an enabling environment capable of attracting private investment and ensuring long-term sustainability. This Live Wire showcases a new approach for assessing mini grid market readiness. Developed in Niger, it could become a blueprint for the mini-grid work under M300. The recent work in Niger provides a comprehensive methodology for assessing a country's readiness for private sector participation in mini-grid development. Using a 10-building-block framework, the study evaluated key technical, regulatory, financial, and institutional barriers to mini-grid deployment and proposed actionable solutions. The insights from this study offer a valuable model for other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, ensuring that the necessary technical, regulatory, and financial foundations are in place to scale mini grids effectively and support M300 goals