- The UK announces new capital investment in the hydropower sector in Africa.
The United Kingdom government has announced a £235 million capital investment for hydropower development in Africa. UK prime minister Boris Johnson made this known in a business forum with Commonwealth leaders in Rwanda.
Boris Johnson says he welcomes the Green Industrial Revolution “sweeping across Africa”. According to him, “the major new UK investments and public-private partnerships are turbocharging the clean energy transition in Africa,” Boris met with the Rwandan President Paul Kagame and discussed existing partnerships between Rwanda and the UK.
Among the UK’s investment in Africa are the British International Investment [BII) in partnership with Norway’s Norfund in a joint venture with energy firm Scatec to provide up to £162m ($200m) of capital investment in the hydropower sector in Africa.
Gridworks, a UK Government-funded subsidiary of BII, has also signed a cooperation agreement with the Government of Uganda this week to invest up to £73m ($90m) to develop their national grid. The project will upgrade four critical electricity substations in Uganda to boost their capacity to absorb renewable energy to supply industrial customers.
“The Green Industrial Revolution is sweeping across Africa, backed by British financing and technical expertise. The continent’s abundant natural resources can be harnessed to provide cheap, reliable sources of energy for its people and industries without contributing to the rising global temperatures that are already devastating communities.
“The UK Government is leading the way, supporting sustainable green infrastructure across the Commonwealth and opening new opportunities for Britain’s leading clean tech companies to grow their business around the world,” Johnson said.