Efforts to tackle one of Africa’s biggest economic development challenges—access to electricity—are gaining momentum with the launch of a $90 billion initiative aimed at powering the continent.
Several leading climate organizations, including The Rockefeller Foundation, announced on Friday the establishment of a technical-assistance facility that will help prepare renewable energy projects for investment across Africa. This initiative marks the start of an ambitious plan to boost electricity access on the continent.
The project, known as Mission 300, is backed by an initial pledge of $30 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The goal is to bring electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030. The initiative also aims to triple this investment by attracting additional funds from philanthropists and the private sector.
If successful, Mission 300 will cut in half the number of Africans without access to power. Currently, Africa accounts for 80% of the global population that lives without electricity, severely limiting productivity and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest nations.
Despite efforts in the past decade, progress has been slow. For instance, only one in 12 people in South Sudan has access to electricity, and many African countries have electrification rates of less than 30%.
The next critical steps in the plan involve securing further funding at a World Bank meeting in South Korea in December, followed by a summit in Dar es Salaam in January.
While Mission 300 is ambitious, Ashvin Dayal, head of the power and climate program at The Rockefeller Foundation, emphasized the urgency of the initiative. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, he said, “Every day that a community is unelectrified, or a household is unelectrified, is a lost opportunity.”
Though previous attempts to improve Africa’s electrification have faced significant challenges, the success of this project has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people across the continent.
