British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has provided a $20 million senior secured portfolio debt facility to Anzana Electric Group to accelerate the construction of run-of-river hydropower projects across Africa.

The financing will support the development of small- and medium-scale hydropower plants, with potential solar hybridisation, across East, Central and Southern Africa. The first project under the facility will be located in Zambia.

Run-of-river hydropower projects are seen as a key component in expanding electricity access across the continent, but smaller installations—particularly those under 10MW—often face challenges in securing long-term debt financing due to high upfront costs and lengthy structuring timelines. The facility is designed to address these constraints by enabling portfolio-level financing across multiple project companies.

Through the investment, Anzana expects to unlock 10MW of new distributed baseload generation capacity by 2030, generating more than 50GWh of clean electricity annually for national and regional grids as well as high-demand commercial and industrial users.

The projects are also expected to create more than 500 jobs across construction and operations phases, while supporting wider efforts to expand electricity access and strengthen energy reliability across targeted markets.

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, Chief Executive Officer of Anzana Electric Group, said, “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.”

Structured as a portfolio-level senior secured facility, the financing will allow capital to be deployed across multiple projects in different countries, enabling faster execution of Anzana’s development pipeline and supporting expansion along key regional energy corridors.