Milele Energy, a renewable energy infrastructure developer and operator, intends to establish its headquarters in Nairobi and has received substantial funding from Gemcorp Capital Management in order to provide clean, cost-effective electricity across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Gemcorp investment will support Milele Energy’s bid to acquire a significant stake in Africa’s largest wind farm, Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, with further plans to develop a substantial expansion in generation capacity from its abundant world-class wind and solar resources.
Kenya’s President William Ruto announced Milele’s intent to purchase an interest in the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project today at the AmCham Business Summit (the American Chamber of Commerce Business Summit), held in Nairobi. Also in attendance was US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, who promoted significant U.S. investment in Kenya.
Attending the summit for Milele Energy, CEO Erik Granskog said the investment will springboard Milele Energy as a top-tier development partner. Milele’s goal with the project development is to create hundreds of direct jobs during construction and operations and potentially several thousand indirect jobs through the provision of clean and low-cost green electricity to power Kenya’s industrial growth in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project has supplied about 20% of Kenya’s electricity since being completed in 2019. The project employs over 320 employees, of which 85% are from the local community and 99% are from Kenya. It also funds extensive community support projects in Marsabit county.
“As Africa’s largest wind power farm, the project taps a wind resource that ranks amongst the world’s top 0.1%, making it one of the most productive wind farms in the world, with expansion opportunities able to produce multiple gigawatts, as Kenya’s energy demand expands to necessitate it”, Granskog explained.
Milele Energy Executive Chairman, Jay Ireland said the investment in Milele is driven by the desire to create a new, African-based energy company to power Africa. He said the continent has the world’s youngest and fastest growing population: with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30. By 2050, a quarter of the world’s people will be African, with over 500 million unique households and a growing middle class, driving consumer spending.
Ireland added, “Milele’s mission is to unlock Africa’s abundant clean energy potential to meet the immense energy demands on the continent and in a low-cost, sustainable, and responsible manner”.
Gemcorp Capital’s investment will also support Milele Energy’s execution of a 500MW+ pipeline of strategically important power infrastructure projects across Africa, spanning both renewable technologies and gas-for-baseload applications.
Gemcorp Capital Chief Executive Officer, Atanas Bostandjiev said: “We are extremely excited to be making this investment in Milele Energy, whose mission to pursue investment to feed Africa’s growing demand for energy in a reliable and responsible manner aligns strongly with our own”, he explained.
Milele Energy is led by three former General Electric Africa executives who possess over 50 years of cumulative experience in the African energy sector and was founded in 2019 by Erik Granskog, the company’s CEO and former Managing Director of GE Capital – Africa. Milele Energy’s management team includes Chairman Jay Ireland, the former CEO of GE Africa, and Managing Director Michele van der Westhuizen, the former Development Leader for GE Power – Africa.
Milele Energy is an independent power-generation company with a goal to make a difference by making an everlasting impact in sub-Saharan Africa. Providing reliable clean electricity to communities in sub-Saharan Africa delivers the energy to grow stronger, today and for generations to come.
Milele seeks to develop, own and operate power-generation facilities from both renewable—solar, wind, hydroelectric, storage — and clean gas solutions. They want to be a select partner for institutional investors who wish to capitalize on yield-producing opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Their collective investments will create a newfound power infrastructure platform that will positively empower the lives of individuals and the strength of communities in Africa.
Gemcorp Capital Management Limited is as an independent investment management firm focused on emerging markets. Gemcorp Capital has facilitated over US$7 billion worth of investments in public and private credit and equity transactions since inception.
The firm is looking to invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next decade, mainly in the form of debt deals in partnership with other institutional investors, alongside private equity investments on a selective basis.
