Major project deals announced at Africa Energy Forum – Copenhagen

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Major project deals announced at Africa Energy Forum – Copenhagen

1:18 CAT | 09 Jun 2017

Africa Energy Net / USTDA, InfraCo Africa & Standard Microgrids Initiative signing took place on Thursday 8 June in Copenhagen

The Africa Energy Forum concludes today in Copenhagen after four days of high level discussions around investment into Africa’s power sector. The 19th Forum was attended by over 300 speakers, 2,000 attendees and saw 64% of the African continent represented. A number of deals took place at this year’s Forum including announcements from USTDA, World Bank and InfraCo Africa.

Eleven African students attended this year as part of the EnergyNet Student Engagement Initiative, meeting with Ministers of Energy and delegates to learn about the industry and explore employment opportunities.

InfraCo Africa and USTDA commit funding to support Standard Microgrid’s distributed energy services in Zambia

InfraCo Africa and Standard Microgrid yesterday signed a Convertible Loan Agreement for the phased disbursement of up to US$3.5m. In parallel, the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) also awarded Standard Microgrid a US$0.75m grant to support project preparation services. Together, these commitments will fund the deployment of distributed solar power across Zambia.

USTDA’s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Director, Lida Fitts, signed the grant on behalf of USTDA along with Standard Microgrid Initiatives Limited Project Manager, Matthew Wainwright. Using the loan committed by InfraCo Africa, Standard Microgrid will initially build six solar photovoltaic (PV) micro-grids in rural and peri-urban areas before rapidly expanding its distributed power service by further deploying >100 units. Each 10kW PV micro-grid is backed up by batteries and managed by smart metering technology which matches customer demand to available supply.

New World Bank report calls for increased private sector investment

The Forum coincided with the release of a new World Bank report calling for increased private sector investment in Africa’s under-developed electricity transmission infrastructure, a vital ingredient for reaching Africa’s energy goals.

The ‘Linking up: Public-Private Partnerships in Power Transmission in Africa’ report examines private sector-led investments in transmission globally and how this approach is applicable in sub-Saharan Africa. The private sector has participated successfully in transmission networks in many countries in Latin America and Asia, and this approach could be replicated.

“Private finance has supported the expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure in many regions of the world and the same can happen in Africa. To attract private sector investment, however, governments need to adopt policies supportive of this strategy and establish the right business, regulatory and legal environment to sustain investor interest,” said Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director and head of Energy and Extractives Industries at the World Bank.

Source: Africa Energy Net