MOBILIZING CLIMATE FINANCE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY ACROSS FOUR CONTINENTS

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) is a multilateral climate finance mechanism that helps developing countries accelerate clean energy investment through grants, concessional financing, and partnerships with multilateral development banks. To access CIF support, governments must prepare comprehensive investment plans that identify priority investments, align with national energy and development objectives, and satisfy rigorous technical, financial, and institutional requirements. For many countries, developing these plans presents a significant challenge, requiring coordination across government agencies, utilities, development partners, and private stakeholders while balancing policy priorities, infrastructure needs, and financing constraints.

DHInfrastructure led the preparation of Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) investment plans for Armenia, Bangladesh, Vanuatu, Lesotho, and Kiribati, and a Renewable Energy Integration (REI) Investment Plan for Fiji under the Climate Investment Funds' (CIF) REI Program. In each country, we assembled and led teams of national and international technical consultants to carry out renewable energy resource assessments and demand analysis, and to evaluate the full range of potential supply options. We built models to assess the economic and financial viability of each technology, calculated levelized costs of energy to enable least-cost comparison across options, and conducted sensitivity analysis to test conclusions against variations in costs, demand growth, and financing assumptions. We then worked with government counterparts to develop scoring criteria that captured national renewable energy policy goals alongside economic and financial performance, using this multi-criteria framework to prioritize investments for inclusion in the final plan. This combination of rigorous least-cost analysis and collaborative priority-setting ensured that the resulting investment plans reflected both what was economically optimal and what governments were actually committed to pursuing.

The investment plans we developed identified specific investment opportunities tailored to each country's resources, needs, and circumstances. Armenia's plan focused on geothermal exploration and utility-scale solar PV. Bangladesh's identified a broad portfolio spanning utility-scale and rooftop solar PV, wind, off-grid solar for irrigation and rural communities, and waste-to-energy. Vanuatu's centered on individual solar systems, minigrids, and run-of-river hydro for rural electrification. Lesotho's ranged across eight distinct technology options—from utility-scale solar and wind to floating micro-hydro microgrids and solar home systems. Kiribati's covered solar PV, energy storage, and distribution network rehabilitation. For Fiji, the plan addressed transmission and distribution infrastructure, transaction advisory for solar independent power producers, and grid extensions for outer islands. Across all six countries, spanning the Caucasus, South Asia, the Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the plans provided governments with a clear, credible roadmap for deploying climate finance and a platform for engaging with international funders.

In total, the six investment plans DHInfrastructure prepared identified approximately USD 220 million in CIF funding that catalyzed nearly USD 1.3 billion in total investment from governments, multilateral development banks, the International Finance Corporation, and private sector investors—a leverage ratio of nearly 6:1. Several of the investments identified in the plans have since been implemented or are in active development. Specific projects include the following:

In Bangladesh, the Investment Plan led to the World Bank's Bangladesh Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Project (approved March 2019), with total project costs of $517 million including $29 million in SREP funding, leveraging $120 million in commercial co-financing for utility-scale solar and a renewable energy financing facility.

In Kiribati, the Investment Plan informed the Asian Development Bank's $13.70 million South Tarawa Renewable Energy Project, which aims to increase renewable energy grid penetration from 9 percent to 44 percent through installation of 5 MW of solar PV and 13 MWh battery energy storage systems.

In Lesotho, the plan led to the World Bank's $52.9 million Lesotho Renewable Energy and Energy Access Project (approved January 2020), connecting industrial zones and households to the grid and developing rural electrification through mini-grids.

In Vanuatu, the Investment Plan with a $7.8 million SREP allocation supported a rural electrification project designed to expand access to modern energy services in off-grid and rural areas.

In Armenia, the Investment Plan helped inform financing for Masrik Solar, the country's first grid-scale solar PV plant—a 55 MW facility financed through IFC and EBRD loans with EU grant support. Following this demonstration project, a second 200 MW solar plant is under development with an expected investment of $174 million.