Power Africa 2017 report: 53mn beneficiaries to date

Power Africa, a US Government-led initiative to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, has released its annual report.

The initiative consists of more than 150 public and private sector partners, which have collectively committed more than US$54bn towards achieving Power Africa's goals.

It is among the world's largest public-private partnerships in development history.

The 2017 report highlights how Power Africa continues to lay the foundation for sustainable economic growth in Africa as it makes progress towards its goals of increasing installed generation capacity by 30,000MW and adding 60mn new electricity connections by 2030.

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Power Africa has facilitated the financial close of 80 power transactions valued at more than US$14.5bn expected to generate more than 7,200MW, and supported private-sector companies and utilities in connecting a total of 10.6mn homes and businesses, benefitting 53mn people.

Of that 7,200MW, Nigeria alone accounts for 3,384 MW. Natural gas technology accounts for more than half of the expected power generation at 4,315MW.

Uganda – where according to the World Bank in 2014, just 20.4% of the population had access to electricity – is one of the countries to have benefitted from the initiative.

“In Uganda, Power Africa has worked through the US-based National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to help our Rural Electrification Agency deliver on-grid connections,” advised Irene Muloni, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development.

“We aim to add 1.5mn new connections by 2022. Power Africa also has helped multiple small hydroelectric projects reach financial close, adding 53MW of generation capacity.

“We hope that working with Power Africa and its partners, Uganda will add 1,000MW of new power generation by 2020 through many types of energy technology.”

To date, the US Government has disbursed approximately US$500mn, and made more than US$2.6bn in financial commitments towards Power Africa’s goals.