Where renewable energy investment runs into regulatory delay

The regulator, not the technology, is usually the bottleneck for a new renewable energy project. Nigeria's electricity market is regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Kenya's by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and Ghana's by the Energy Commission, three separate licensing processes, each with its own generation license threshold, tariff approval step, and grid connection study requirement.

A power purchase agreement (PPA) is usually the document that decides whether a project gets financed at all. Lenders want a PPA with a credit- worthy off-taker, a defined tariff, and a term long enough to cover the debt. In several African markets, the state utility is the only realistic off-taker for grid-connected projects above a certain size, which means the PPA negotiation runs through a government-linked counterparty rather than a private buyer.

The investment guide sets out the licensing sequence and the questions to raise with a regulator before submitting an application. Once a project reaches the stage of choosing a specific market and structuring the entry, that is advisory work, regulatory sequencing, partner identification, and a written strategy document are what the market entry advisory service delivers. Book a market entry consultation.