The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved USD$110 million in funding for three proposals from the African Development Bank (AfDB), including a mini-grid project for Democratic Republic of Congo.

The AfDB will match $21 million in GCF loan and grant funding to build three pilot solar PV plants and the battery storage with them. “The mini-grids will provide access to clean, reliable and more affordable energy to approximately 150,000 people who live off-grid,” the bank said in its statement.

All told the project is calculated to remove 560,000 tCO2eq in emissions across a 20-year period. The funding also ensures technical assistance to take the mini-grids beyond their pilot phase.

Also receiving $28.3 million was the Yeleen Rural Electrification Project in Burkina Faso, which is expected to provide 335,000 people with power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 390,000 tCO2eq across 25 years. Burkina Faso also will see up to 700 permanent jobs in the sector.

“We are pleased to partner with the GCF to unlock the first wave of green mini-grid deployment in the DRC and Burkina Faso and to accelerate access to a clean energy system,” said Ousseynou Nakoulima, the AfDB director for renewable energy.

A third project, the Program for Integrated Development and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Niger Basin (PIDACC/NB),  received $67.8 million in primarily grant funding. That’s toward preservation of the Niger River and its biodiversity, and improving climate change resilience in the nine Niger Basin nations. The agriculture-focused project is further supported by AfDB, the European Union and other partners.

The GCF also is supporting a renewable energy project in Zambia.

“The approval of these projects is a demonstration of GCF’s commitment to providing the financial support that is critically needed to meet the targets set out in the Nationally Determined Contributions of African countries,” said Anthony Nyong of AfDB, the director for its Climate Change and Green Growth Department.