Investment firm CrossBoundary, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, launched the Mini-Grid Innovation Lab, in Nairobi, Kenya, last month.
The lab is the first research and development fund in sub-Saharan Africa to focus on testing business model innovations in the minigrid sector.
Working with over 15 minigrid developers across Africa, and with the African Mini-Grid Developers Association, Energy4Impact, Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Power For All, the lab will test business solutions for minigrids so that they can provide more power to more people at a lower cost.
It aims to demonstrate to governments, policymakers, investors and donors that minigrids can play a key role in connecting 600-million people in Africa who do not have access to power.
“We’re launching the Mini-Grid Innovation Lab at a time when momentum is building for the sector. Achieving the lab’s objectives could potentially accelerate the ability of minigrids to provide power for millions of people in Africa,” CrossBoundary managing partner Matt Tilleard said in a statement last week.