- The African Development Bank (AfDB) aims to accelerate socio-economic development through solar deployment.
- The initiative will impact eleven countries in the Sahel region.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) of the West Africa Regional Electricity Project plans to donate $5.5 million to finance renewable energy development through the desert to power initiative. Known as the East Africa Regional Energy Project, the programme will be financed through the ADF-15 Regional Public Good window of the ADF, the concessional arm of the AfDB. The project will develop technical studies for regional solar parks and associated battery storage near regional energy interconnectors and high-voltage cables connecting neighbouring countries’ electricity systems.
The initiative will also strengthen the technical capacity of the implementing agency, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a trade bloc that includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the Great Lakes region.
Desert to Power will ultimately add 10GW of solar generation capacity and provide electricity to around 250 million people in the 11 Sahelian countries by 2030. This aligns with one of the AfDB’s High five strategic priorities, namely Light up and power Africa.
The Desert to Power programme is a flagship renewable energy and economic development initiative led by the African Development Bank (AfDB). It is meant to accelerate socio-economic development by deploying solar technologies at scale in the 11 countries of the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan).