Infinity Power, a joint venture between UAE’s Masdar and Egypt’s Infinity, has fully acquired Lekela Power, an Africa-based wind power platform.

The transaction makes Infinity Power the largest renewable energy company on the African continent, the company said in a statement. 

Lekela currently operates 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind power projects in South Africa, Egypt and Senegal, and has a 1.8 GW project pipeline in various stages of development. 

The transaction was funded through equity investment from shareholders and debt from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking and Mauritian Commercial Bank. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Mohamed Ismail Mansour, Chairman, Infinity Power, said the company will advance to its target of installing and operating 2 GW of greenfield projects by 2025 following the Lekela acquisition.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar, added: “Through our investment in Infinity Power, Masdar is able to extend its reach across Africa and support developing nations on their clean energy transitions.”

He stated that the acquisition will give Infinity Power greater scale to deploy practical climate solutions that deliver measurable outcomes, in line with the COP28 objective of being inclusive, transparent, pragmatic, and results oriented.

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO, Masdar, said that greater access to clean energy will enable African nations to develop their economies sustainably while meeting their climate objectives in alignment with COP28’s goal of delivering inclusive climate progress.

Infinity Power was formed in 2020 to develop utility-scale and distributed solar energy and wind power projects in Africa.

Lekela Power  was set up in 2015.

Previously, Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, owned 60% and a consortium led by global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power owned 40% of Lekela.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates Africa’s installed renewable capacity to grow from 54 GW in 2020 to more than 530 GW by 2040.

 

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )