The Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), a clean energy financing advisory group, says it has achieved a milestone by passing the $1 billion mark in financing raised for clean energy projects in developing countries.
According to PFAN, the multilateral public-private partnership, currently transitioning to a new governance and hosting arrangement within the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), has now raised total financing of $1.2 billion.
As reported, the financing is being used to build, install and operate 701 MW of clean power for 87 projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America. These projects – which include wind and solar farms, biomass and biogas power plants, small hydro generation, decentralized renewable energy mini-grids for underserved areas, and others – together translate to over 2.6 billion tons of CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere annually.
“This is an excellent launch platform for the new generation PFAN under UNIDO REEEP hosting, and we look forward to expanding activities and continually pushing the limits on delivering new financing milestones in the future to support small business and innovation,” said Pradeep Monga, director of UNIDO’s department of energy.
According to PFAN, its accelerated rate of project closures, which led to a massive boost in financing raised this August, comes on the heels of an expansion effort for the group in Asia and West Africa, where new dedicated networks are beginning to show impressive returns. PFAN’s more mature networks in Eastern and Southern Africa have also made notable contributions. At the same time, PFAN is expanding across Latin America and the Caribbean and recently launched activities in Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan.
PFAN says it operates by identifying high-potential clean energy projects and providing them with project development, investment advisory and financing facilitation support via a network of independent experts. This program, supported by a coalition of governments and international organizations that includes the U.S., Sweden, Australia and others, has resulted in private-sector investment mobilization orders of magnitude higher than PFAN’s operating costs.
“Under its new governance structure nested within UNIDO and REEEP, PFAN is poised to go even further,” said Martin Hiller, REEEP’s director general. “We want to drastically accelerate PFAN’s contribution to technology transfer and diffusion – a key element of the Paris Agreement – by driving untapped finance to promising clean energy businesses.”
PFAN is a multilateral, public-private partnership, originally initiated by the Climate Technology Initiative.
