USAID Southern Africa Energy Program Transaction Advisory Services

SAEP provided tailored services across the energy project lifecycle at no cost to qualifying projects, helping to promote investment in the energy sector for a more sustainable future. The program worked alongside project developers, providing leading practices and tools to help remove barriers and enable projects to reach financial closure more rapidly. SAEP supported project developers and utilities by providing capacity building and advising on leading practices. This included conducting preliminary project evaluations, reviewing initial feasibility recommendations, and analyzing potential bankability. The program also developed approaches and methodologies for project valuations, reviewed key transaction documents, and facilitated neutral introductions to potential off-takers or partners. Additionally, SAEP assisted developers in identifying prospective strategic equity partners and promoted the use of leading practices in developer-led selection of criteria and processes for choosing these partners. SAEP advanced projects across the electricity sector value chain by providing technical assistance at the project pre-feasibility stage. The program guided projects and project teams to address legal and regulatory challenges and provided examples of key project agreements based on leading practices in the region. SAEP also shared and helped to accelerate project adoption of leading-practice examples of relevant financial models, project structuring, and commercial agreements to speed project development. Furthermore, the program assisted in identifying high-potential opportunities and sharing projects with broader Power Africa partners. The SAEP Transaction Advisory Team consisted of highly qualified and experienced professionals who provided technical assistance to private- and public-sector project developers, as well as to financial institutions and fund managers interested in investing in project development. The team's support helped to accelerate project development and financial closure, ultimately contributing to the growth of the energy sector in Southern Africa. SAEP's efforts were part of the broader Power Africa initiative, which aims to add at least 30,000 MW of cleaner and more reliable electricity generation capacity and 60 million connections by 2030.