An event organized by the AFD Digital Energy program, in partnership with the AFD Energy Sector Platform, to take stock of stationary storage needs, appropriate financing and storage technologies for mini-grids in sub-Saharan Africa: strengths, challenges and prospects.
🗓️ Thursday, November 13, 2025, morning
📍 Alliot Room, AFD Headquarters, Paris
💻 Hybrid event – in-person & online
🌍 Context
In sub-Saharan Africa, the deployment of mini-grids is a key lever for accelerating electrification, especially in rural areas.
Their performance and sustainability rely on a central element: batteries, which stabilize renewable energy production and ensure a continuous supply.
This morning of discussions will address energy storage as a whole—needs, priorities, and financing mechanisms—before focusing on the application of batteries to mini-grids.
Experts and industry stakeholders will shed light on how energy storage can accelerate the energy transition in sub-Saharan Africa.
The event will highlight two recent AFD studies and give the floor to several stakeholders in the field to share their concrete experiences.
🕘 On the program
🔍 Two complementary studies to better understand the issues
The session will open with a presentation of the main findings of a study conducted by Energie Impact for AFD, focusing on:
- identifying priority storage needs in African electricity systems,
- and the most appropriate financing mechanisms to support their large-scale deployment.
It will be followed by a presentation of the AFD study conducted by SETEC, focusing on the battery storage value chain for mini-grids in Sub-Saharan Africa.
📈 The study highlights the key role of battery storage in the development of mini-grids in Africa, analyzing technologies, business models, challenges, and solutions adapted to local contexts.
💬 A roundtable discussion to exchange perspectives from stakeholders on the continent
Moderated by Mehdi Benaïssa (AFD), the roundtable will include:
- Léonide Sinsin, Managing Director of the ARESS Group (Benin), a battery manufacturer and operator
- Thomas Deuve, Exide, a battery manufacturer
- Startups that are making a difference
- And other committed partners.
These discussions will address practical lessons learned from the field and investment challenges in the sustainable development of energy storage in Africa.
📍Practical Information
📅 Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025 – from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (CET)
📍 Location: Salle Alliot, AFD Headquarters – 5 rue Roland Barthes, 75012 Paris
💻 Format: Hybrid (in-person & online)
🎤 Organized by: AFD Digital Energy
