RABAT, MOROCCO - THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has identified the urgent need for governments to accelerate access to affordable, reliable and modern energy, particularly through investments to deliver on high rural and urban social needs.
According to research, Africa accounted for just 2% of the total US$2,8 trillion invested in renewables globally between 2000 and 2020.
Hence, during the ongoing 2024 Africa Investment Forum (AIF) Market Days being held in Rabat, Morocco, , AfDB Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth vice-president Kevin Kariuki yesterday said the bank was committed to harnessing the continent’s renewable energy potential.
Apart from this, he added that the bank was also committed to scaling up energy access.
“In this regard, our investment portfolio is increasingly green, with over a 7% proportion of renewables since 2016, as we continue to grow our toolkit of instruments that are designed to empower private sector investors and tap into capital markets for financing of renewable energy investments,” Kariuki said.
“In this regard, we acknowledge that larger constitutional finance flows are needed to catalyse the billions of investments required, including from domestic financial markets.”
He said the bank was particularly proud of the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) flagship blended finance facility.
SEFA’s overarching goal is to contribute to universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services for all in Africa.
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Kariuki said last year, through using innovative projects, SEFA literally saved important projects such as the 80 to 200 megawatt (MW) Kogombo project to this year’s 100MW Kairouan solar power projects.
He said by employing instruments such as junior equity, concessional loans and grants, SEFA was uniquely placed to address challenges such as the high cost of capital, limited access to long-term financing and risks associated with emerging technologies and new business models.
“To date, SEFA has committed over US$300 million in more than 100 projects, which I expect to deliver 6 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable generation capacity that can power up to 12 million new connections by 2030.”
However, he said this was a small portion or fraction of the continent’s capacity.
“Africa targets to increase renewable energy generation capacity from 56GW in 2023 to 300GW by 2030, according to last year’s Nairobi declaration at the end of the Africa Climate Summit,” Kariuki said.
He said this was also why AfDB in collaboration with the World Bank, launched Mission 300, a whole initiative that seeks to provide electricity access to an additional 300 million people in Africa by 2030.
In this regard, an important milestone in the Mission 300 journey is the Africa Energy Summit, which will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on January 28, 2025.
The summit will convene heads of State and government, ministers, international and regional organisations and other partners, including the private sector.
These groups will meet to agree and sign on a common set of reform actions that are required to support Africa’s overall objective of achieving universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030.
“I encourage you all to actively engage in today’s workshop that seeks to further entrench Africa’s long-awaited development agenda,” Kariuki said.
“Together, let’s translate ambition into tangible actions and harness the transformative potential of clean energy for the benefit of millions of Africans.”
