Natural gas is Africa’s leading electricity generation fuel, according to the International Energy Agency, accounting for nearly the combined total from coal and hydropower. Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria are among at least a half dozen African countries that have harnessed their gas reserves to improve electricity access over the last two decades, said the Natural Resource Governance Institute, a New-York based group that is nonetheless skeptical about the promise of gas-powered plants for Africa due to long-term costs.
Genser previously built plants based on crude oil and coal, but has focused on natural gas — which it does not produce but sources from upstream players — for most of its operations. Nigeria’s gas prices are about a third lower than charged by local rivals Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, which will be crucial for Genser’s long-term goals of providing low-cost electricity to its growing clientele, Adjei said. The company hopes to make a final investment decision about gas supply from Nigeria by the end of next year and begin buying in barges by 2030, he added.
With more than $2 billion in debt and equity capital raised from majority South African banks, Genser’s financing history underscores the huge investment challenges that gas-to-power projects involve. Artificial intelligence is driving a surge in global demand for electricity, further raising the investment costs of gas power plants. The price of new combined-cycle plants has tripled in the last six years, according to one estimate.
Genser is “not yet profitable,” Adjei said, because the company remains in a growth phase that requires it to steadily borrow and reinject revenues towards building additional capacity. “Our financing cost almost eats up all the profit we would have ever made, but we will become profitable immediately we stop growing,” he said. Genser’s current debt is at about $1 billion, Adjei said, which he hopes the company will pay down with the planned equity sale.
Standard Bank expects the new credit facility to give Genser “additional flexibility” for ongoing projects, Tyson Sithole, executive head of equity finance and structured capital, said in an email. The bank was involved in the energy company’s previous financing arrangements and was the lead arranger in this fundraise.