The powerful Rockefeller fund is backing an Irish wind energy project in Africa

THE ROCKEFELLER FUND, set up by members of the powerful Rockefeller family, has backed a project being headed up by an Irish renewable energy company.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has emerged as part of a consortium investing in Lekela Power, an African wind and solar energy joint venture set up by Dublin-based Mainstream Renewables and British private equity firm Actis.

The RBF is a philanthropic organisation set up by the Rockefeller family, which made a fortune in oil and is considered to be one of the most influential families in the world.

Some $177.5 million is being invested in the Lekala platform, a vehicle which will be used to develop renewable energy projects in several African countries including Senegal and Ghana.

Around $117.5 million of the equity will come from the RBF and other investors including the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank. The remaining $60 million will come from Mainstream itself.

Huge investment

Mainstream, which is headed up by Airtricity founder Eddie O’Connor, said that the funding will help Lekela meet its goal of constructing over 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of new power capacity in Africa by 2018. If installed, 1.3GW of power would meet the energy demand of hundreds of thousands of homes.

O’Connor said that the partnership between Mainstream and the RBF “is a significant moment in the world’s transition to a new power system based on clean energy”.

Mainstream Renewables founder and CEO Eddie O'Connor

“Providing electricity for the people of Africa requires huge investments and is an opportunity to re-kindle growth and help the world economy overcome secular stagnation. We hope this will be the first investment of many from impact investors in this sector,” he said.

Stephen Heintz, the president of the RBF, said that he was “pleased” with the investment.

“I’m confident that if John D. Rockefeller were alive today, he too would recognize the enormous opportunities in the clean energy economy and be at the forefront of the global shift to renewable resources,” he said.

Move to renewables

Mainstream said that the deal will allow Lekela to continue to build its pipeline of wind and solar projects in Africa.

“The platform plans to build four more wind farms in South Africa, a wind farm and two solar plants in Egypt, as well as wind farms in Senegal and Ghana,” it said.

The deal is the first direct investment that the RBF has made in a renewable energy company as it looks to shed its ties to fossil fuels. About 3.3% of the fund is still invested in fossil fuel assets.

The fund, which was founded in 1940 with money made from oil giant Standard Oil, which was founded by John D. Rockefeller, has assets worth over $800 million.