“Improving access to energy is crucial for driving socio-economic development across Africa. Countries that have limited access to electricity are deprived of the chance to maximize the potentials of their population. We strive to lift the standard of living for millions of people through the modest work of AFC.”ATO GYASI – Senior Director
Power generation and distribution infrastructure across Africa is often inadequate, unreliable and costly, and this has constrained wider economic growth and development across the continent. As a result, more than 645 million Africans currently have no access to electricity. This severely limits the continents economic development and current trends indicate fewer than four out of ten African countries will achieve universal access to electricity by 2050.
Outdated facilities, plants, lack of maintenance and constant power supply is a common theme across Sub-Saharan Africa and power outages occur frequently as a result of this narrative. This is a major concern given emergency power is expensive and represents a considerable proportion of GDP in some countries.
Solving Africa’s energy crisis is critical to unlocking the full potential of the continent’s natural, economic and human resources. As the effects of global warming and its attendant impact on climate change are increasingly felt across the world, there has been greater global emphasis on the need for financing solutions for greener and climate-friendly energy generation sources as evidenced by the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016.
AFC has sought to address the wider infrastructure divide by originating, structuring and executing projects in the African power sector. AFC has entered into several strategic partnerships towards positioning itself as a leading climate finance institution on the continent. In 2015, AFC became the first African Development Finance Institution to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund (“GCF”). The Green Climate Fund (GCF) supports the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change. It was set up by the 194 countries which are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) IN 2010, as part of the convention’s financial mechanism.
Following the signing in October 2017 of an Accreditation Master Agreement, AFC has access to direct funding from GCF to support climate financing activities in Africa. In September 2017, AFC also secured a €100 million climate financing line of credit with the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) to improve AFC’s competitive ability to fund climate-friendly projects.
AFC’s power projects include:
- Cenpower Kpone IPP in Ghana
- Caebolica Wind farm in Cape Verde
- 450MW IPP In Republic of Benin
- 350MW IPP in Ghana
- 300MW IPP in Mozambique
- Technical Adviser to the Central Bank of Nigeria on its US$2 billion
- Power and Aviation Intervention Fund (PAIF)
- AFC/Harith General Partners merger to create Anergi Holdings
- 420MW Nachtigal Hydroelectric Project, Cameroon
- 44MW Singrobo Hydro Power Plant, Cote D’Ivoire
- Kenya Power & Lighting Company
Read more about our activity in this sector during the year in our annual report.
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Lagos State, Nigeria
info@africafc.org