In June 2013, President Barack Obama launched Power Africa — a partnership among the U.S. Government, African governments, the private sector, international organizations, NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral partners to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. In its first year, Power Africa made progress toward achieving its initial goal of adding 10,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation capacity and 20 million new connections in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. To expand the reach of Power Africa, in August 2014, during the first ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit (ALS), President Obama announced a tripling of Power Africa’s goals — adding 30,000 MW and 60 million connections across sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside this announcement, the President pledged to support Power Africa at a new level of $300 million in assistance per year.
These new goals are ambitious but achievable. To accomplish them, Power Africa is expanding the markets it works in and the tools it offers. To date, Power Africa has assisted with the financial closure of transactions expected to install over 4,100 MW of new, cleaner power generation capacity when fully online. Power Africa has also made progress toward its connection goals. The additional 4,100 MW of power has the potential to enable approximately 4 million new connections through increased availability of power. Under Beyond the Grid, a Power Africa sub-initiative that drives private investment in off-grid and small-scale energy solutions, U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Financing facility (ACEF) and the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) have funded companies and projects expected to reach 1 million new connections.
Much of Power Africa’s initial achievements were due to its support of projects that were in development before our launch. Moving forward, we are focused on generating new deals to support, while continuing to ensure existing projects stay on track. In addition to the projects that have reached financial close, Power Africa has identified transactions in the planning stages with the potential to install more than 20,000 MW of cleaner power generation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa.
