Renewable Energy

REACT Household Solar Programme

The REACT Household Solar Programme sought to address a critical component of United Kingdom’s Department for International Development’s (DFID) Africa Clean Energy (ACE) Programme with an aim to increase access to clean, affordable energy for low-income people in Africa by promoting a market-based approach for private sector delivery of solar home system products and services in the target countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The programme was implemented in two phases;

REACT HS Round 1: With a commitment of USD 10 million (GBPs 8 million), the competition was launched in May 2017 and has funded 10 companies operating in four countries: Zambia, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Implementation phase is ongoing.

REACT HS Round 2: With a commitment of USD 20.8 million (GBPs 16 million), the competition will be launched in quarter two 2019. This round will target companies in Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and Somalia.

As of March 2023, REACT HS had invested 7.35 million GBP of catalytic matching grant financing in 17 companies across the target regions. From an impact perspective, summarized in the figure below, the portfolio of investees has improved energy access for 167,220 households (836,100 people) with an average net benefit of US$61 per household.