Nearly two out of three people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. This means that more than 600 million people are limited in accessing high-quality health care, education and economic opportunities.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Power Africa Coordinator’s Office housed within USAID, and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) are working to reduce this deficit by increasing capacity for the generation of renewable energy, both large and small-scale; extending and stabilising transmission-line networks; exploring opportunities for energy storage; and mobilising institutional capital for investment in the energy sector. By working together at both the strategic and operational levels, they hope to increase the reach and efficiency of their programmes to achieve these goals and meet their respective mandates.

On 18 September, at the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding to renew the parties’ commitment, Ambassador Jessye Lapenn, U.S. Ambassador to the African Union, stated in her opening remarks that all this is taking place against the COVID-19 backdrop.  

“We need to focus on both the health and non-health social-economic issues, including Africa’s energy infrastructure in order to address the energy deficit,” Ambassador Lapenn said.

Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD declared that, “The cooperation between AUDA-NEPAD and Power Africa marks the convergence of our shared vision of increasing the African population’s access to clean energy through national, regional and continental electricity markets, anchored on national and transboundary infrastructure.”

Dr Mayaki highlighted the importance of the renewed MOU in order to:

• Advance the development and reinforcement of transmission lines, transmission-related support systems and processes, and regional integration;
• Collaborate on the implementation of a mega solar initiative in Southern Africa;
• Pursue projects in the generation of renewable energy;
• Collaborate on the development of a capacity-building program for energy storage; 
• Mobilise institutional capital for the benefit of Africa’s energy security.

Mark Carrato, Acting Coordinator for Power Africa, agreed that partnerships are fundamental at Power Africa. “We take immense pride in the shared work that we have undertaken with all of our partners since our inception. We now have over 150 private sector partners, 19 development partners and 12 interagency partners,” he said.

Mr Carrato also explained that under the Power Africa 2.0 strategy, a holistic view of the overall energy supply chain is being undertaken. For example, under the MOU renewal with AUDA-NEPAD, Power Africa is looking closely at ways in which to advance transmission efforts, critical to evacuating and distributing generation capacity, including stranded assets.

“I am very pleased that in our MOU renewal, AUDA-NEPAD has committed to supporting the African Regional Economic Communities and regional power pools to achieve their combined master plan targets for increased transmission and generation capacity, estimated at 25,000 kilometers and 40,000 megawatts respectively,” Mr Carrato added.

The renewal of the MOU on Power Africa will address transmission challenges that are critical to unlocking improved cross-border power trade. The work to be jointly undertaken will address energy challenges on the continent, looking at projects such as  the proposed large scale solar initiative in Namibia and Botswana; providing technical assistance to advance renewable energy pilots in the Sahel region and beyond; exploring battery storage opportunities, and; identifying ways to unlock institutional capital to deliver patient capital to Africa’s diverse energy sectors.