Oscarline Onwuemenyi
22 September 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – At the U.S – Africa Business Forum, the U.S. Government, and its Power Africa partners announced several new milestones across dozens of energy projects and transactions.
These commitments – totaling more than $1 billion worth of debt and finance – will advance deals that aim to provide access to electricity across sub-Saharan Africa.
Three years after the launch of Power Africa by President Barack Obama, the United States is on track to fulfill its initial $7 billion commitment over five years, and several departments and agencies have announced that they’ve expanded Power Africa commitments as detailed in the 2016 annual report.
Power Africa partners, including African governments, multilateral and bilateral partners, and more than 130 private sector partners are helping to maximize our impact and accelerate private sector investment in renewable energy.
The U.S. Government’s initial $7 billion commitment has mobilized more than $52 billion in additional external commitments, including more than $40 billion in private sector commitments to invest in power generation and distribution across sub-Saharan Africa.
Power Africa is tracking more than 500 deals across the continent. Many of these deals reached new milestones yesterday.
The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) announced 20 new $100,000 grants for African energy entrepreneurs in the newest round of the Off-Grid Energy Challenge. These winners are innovating, using renewable technologies from solar micro-grids to biogas, to bring electricity to rural communities living far from the national grid.
Nigeria Solar Capital Partners entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Globeleq Advisors Limited and the ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund to fund and co-develop a $ 220 million, 100MW AC solar PV project in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
The project has a signed 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), and the parties anticipate reaching financial close in the summer of 2017. Nigeria Solar Capital Partners is a joint venture of Industry Capital and Gigawatt Global, a Power Africa partner.
Txtlight Power Solutions (Lumos) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) announced that it will be providing an additional $35 million in debt financing to this innovative distributed solar company that has partnered with the largest telecom company in Nigeria to distribute home solar and energy storage systems. OPIC has already disbursed on a $15 million loan.
