Sh1.2 trillion African Development Bank project to light up Africa

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has launched a project intended to expand Africa's power grid by 160 Giga watts (GW) in a span of 10 years.

Speaking during the opening session of AfFDB's Annual General Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, the bank's President Adesina Akimwumi said it launched Transformative Partnership on Energy for Africa programme with an intention of lighting up Africa within 10 years. Top on the list of the Bank's commitment is $12 billion in the energy sector to unlock Africa's energy potential.

The partners in the project include: African Union (AU), the Africa Progress Panel, and President Obama's Power Africa, World Bank among others.

"We have embraced co-development - a new way of working with others in a transformative way to solve major challenges in Africa. Africa is simply tired of being in the dark," he said.
The project, he said, is going to connect 130 million people to power grid, with an additional 75 million others to off grid systems. The project will also provide access to 150 million households to clean energy.

"We will do more to deliver on the new energy deal. We will invest Sh1.2 trillion ($12 billion) in the energy sector over the next five years and expect to leverage on Sh50 trillion ($50 billion) investment in the energy sector," he said.

In 2015, AfDB provided approximately Sh130 billion for energy projects.
"The bank has continued to lead the way in financing renewable energy projects, including the 300 Mega Watts (MW) Lake Turkana Wind Power station - the largest in Africa and supported the Noor complex in Morrocco - world's largest concentrated solar plant," Akimwumi said.