World Bank, AfDB partner to power Africa

Africa is on the brink of a major transformation in electricity access as the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group have announced a partnership to ensure reliable electricity access for at least 300 million people in Africa by the year 2030. During a recent CNBC Africa interview, President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, highlighted the significant progress made in increasing electricity access in Africa. The African Development Bank's initiative, called the New Deal for the development of energy in Africa, aimed to achieve universal access to electricity in Africa by 2025. Since its launch, the electricity access rate in Africa has increased from 32% to 57%, connecting 22 million people to electricity. Dr. Adesina emphasized the need to think bigger and bolder in their efforts to ensure access to electricity for all Africans. With a vision to provide 50 million people with electricity by 2030, the African Development Bank is also focusing on harnessing Africa's abundant renewable energy potential. Dr. Adesina highlighted the vast resources available in Africa, including free solar energy, hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, and wind power, which are significantly underutilized. To maximize these resources, the African Development Bank launched the Desert to Power initiative, a $20 billion investment that aims to generate 10,000 megawatts of power across 11 African countries. This initiative is expected to provide electricity access to an additional 250 million people, bringing the total number of people with access to electricity to 550 million by 2030. The partnership with the World Bank will further strengthen these efforts and enable the ambitious electricity access goals to be achieved. The World Bank Group's President, David Malpass, emphasized the importance of collaboration to drive progress in the energy sector in Africa. The partnership will involve governments, the private sector, and multilateral financial institutions to facilitate project development and de-risking at scale. Additionally, a key focus will be on enhancing the regulatory environment and building essential infrastructure such as transmission lines. To solidify their commitment and ensure tangible progress, the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group will host the Africa Energy Summit in collaboration with the Africa Union. The summit will bring together key stakeholders to develop the Africa Energy Compact, a comprehensive roadmap that will outline the regulatory, policy, and financing measures needed to achieve sustainable energy access in Africa. This strategic approach mirrors the success of the Africa Food Security Summit held last year, which mobilized $72 billion towards food security initiatives in Africa. By uniting efforts and resources, the African Development Bank and the World Bank aim to transform the energy landscape in Africa and drive economic growth and competitiveness on the continent. As they focus on the target of 300 million people gaining access to electricity by 2030, the emphasis will be on setting clear key performance indicators (KPIs) and plans to ensure accountability and measure the impact of their investments and partnerships. By staying focused and driven to 'get it done,' the World Bank and African Development Bank are poised to make significant strides towards achieving universal electricity access in Africa by 2030.