The African Development Bank (AFDB) and the World Bank are partnering on an ambitious effort to boost electricity access in Africa by 2030.
During a meeting organized by the World Bank, African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina spoke about a partnership with the World Bank, to mobilise $20 billion, to unlock huge solar projects in Africa through the Desert2Power initiative.
The project is expected to generate some 10,000 Megawatts (MW) of solar power in the Sahel region to provide electricity access to 250 million people.
Adesina said the sun is free.
He also said a fraction of the capacity of existing resources is not fully utilized, for example, of the 250 Gigawatts (GW) of Hydro power capacity, only 7% is used.
“Of the 115 GW of wind power capacity available, we are using only 2%.”
He said the “Desert to power” initiative is a $20 billion investment, to generate electricity to 11 countries, to supply 250 million households.
Countries set to benefit include Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Djibouti, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan abs and Senegal.
Picture: AFDB