Africa currently has an average electrification rate of 50%, leaving some 600 million people without access to reliable power. The projects form part of a wider initiative to halve that number by 2030.
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and The Rockefeller Foundation plan to start 23 new energy access projects in 11 African countries, as well as across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the continent’s biggest regional economic bloc. The news was announced during the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week.
The projects will be funded by the Mission 300 technical assistance facility, which The Rockefeller Foundation and GEAPP supported with an initial $10m (€9.5m) commitment in September to swiftly deploy philanthropic capital to accelerate energy access across Africa.
The Mission 300 project forms part of an initiative by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank to provide some 300 million Africans with better access to electricity by 2030. Only half of all African citizens, or 600 million people, currently have access to reliable electricity.
“The design and preparation of these initiatives is advancing an Africa-led mission that unlocks power where it is needed most,” said Woochong Um, chief executive officer at GEAPP.
He said that GEAPP supports African governments, as well as institutional partners and businesses by improving local skills, capacity, and implementation efforts, using “new financial tools and bankable projects that boost cooperation and innovation and fuel sustainable growth for communities across the continent.”
Addressing gaps in energy transition
GEAPP, an alliance of philanthropy, governments, technology, policy, and financing partners, was founded by the IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund in 2021 to address the current gaps in delivering the green energy transition. These include outdated regulation, capital barriers or the absence of private sector capital.
The alliance aims to slash some four gigatons of future carbon emissions, boost clean energy access to one billion people, and enable 150 million new jobs. More than half of its current portfolio by value is currently invested in Africa.
“The Rockefeller Foundation created the Mission 300 Accelerator to demonstrate how philanthropy can break through bureaucratic obstacles to jumpstart World Bank and African Development Bank energy projects,” said Andrew Herscowitz, chief executive officer of the Mission 300 Accelerator.
“In just a few short months, we have worked with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sustainable Energy for All and the banks to advance two dozen projects, putting us on track to bring reliable electricity to 300 million people across Africa at unprecedented speed,” Herscowitz said.
The Mission 300 projects are expected to include the provision of assistance with studies for social infrastructure electrification in Côte d’Ivoire, updating and integrating national and regional electrification plans in Madagascar, supporting renewable energy efforts in Nigeria, and helping to scale up renewable energy generation in Mozambique.
