West Africa

Multiple wind turbines set against a sunset sky
West Africa

Le West Africa Energy Cooperation Summit (WA-ECS) célébré comme une étape importante pour le développement de l’énergie durable, avec la signature de deux projets

Le Sommet sur la coopération énergétique en Afrique de l’Ouest, qui s’est tenu à Lomé du 3 au 5 décembre 2024, a réuni des gouvernementaux et des leaders mondiaux pour trois jours de discussions et de débats qui ont abordé les défis du développement de projets dans la région de la CEDEAO et promu la croissance […]
West Africa

Millennium Challenge Corporation – Country-led Development, Country Ownership, and Shared Responsibility

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)  was established by U.S Congress in 2004.  With a unique model for country-led development and ownership, and a new $480 million compact with Sierra Leone to improve affordable energy access, we spoke with Neb Girma, Practice Lead and Senior Director at MCC, to discuss impact, news, and plans, in advance of the […]
West Africa

AMEA Power – Committed to West Africa’s Renewable Energy Potential

AMEA Power is one of the fastest-growing companies in renewable energy. As lead sponsor of the West African Energy Cooperation Summit (WA_ECS), Joel Musikingala, Senior Manager of Project Development, spoke to EnergyNet about the company’s commitment to West Africa, and the opportunities that lie ahead. The Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed solar plant is Togo’s first […]
West Africa

New Thinking On Africa’s Electricity Problems Demands Commitment And Faith

With African electricity supply industries in a state of flux, everyone agrees the infrastructure needed for economic development can only come from the private sector, but the existing financial and commercial models are inadequate – and a desperate need for investment in transmission only makes this financing challenge harder. Some new thinking about how to […]
West Africa

Holger Rothenbusch, British International Investment (Bii), On Keeping People Connected And Why Energy Transition Is A Process, Not A Step Change

With over 25 years of experience in development finance in emerging markets including Africa, Holger Rothenbusch leads BII’s infrastructure and climate finance program. He spoke to EnergyNet about supporting economic growth in a new era where infrastructure investments are more challenging and private capital is ever more needed, the importance of collaboration, and what governments […]
West Africa

DEG – Patient, Long-Term Investors For Africa

Andreas Cremer, Director of Infrastructure and Energy at DEG, leads the debt financing of renewable energy, green hydrogen and infrastructure projects in Africa and Latin America, with a loan portfolio of over US$ 1 billion. He spoke to EnergyNet about challenges, de-risking, innovations in financing and moving towards a self-sustainable energy sector for Africa. What […]
West Africa

Stepping on the gas

Once the preserve of giant producers, natural gas developments are now emerging across the continent – and playing a role in shoring up global energy security, reports James Gavin "Africa must have natural gas to complement its renewable energy,” African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said on the sidelines of a UN conference earlier this […]
West Africa

Traditional Energy Projects Face up to Funding Challenges

How is Africa’s oil and gas sector dealing with ESG constraints? Development finance is still available for gas-to-power and LNG, but some oil projects are struggling to tap commercial lending support, writes James Gavin The news in early May of this year that Standard Chartered Bank would not be financing the East African Crude Oil […]
West Africa

Droughts Raise Doubts over Hydro’s Future Role in Africa

Uncertainties surround the outlook for hydropower in Africa, but new projects of varying sizes continue to gain access to financing across the continent, reports Ben Payton In Zambia and Zimbabwe, electricity has become a precious commodity over the past few months. The two countries have been enduring severe power cuts since late last year. In […]
West Africa

Access To Reliable And Affordable Off-Grid Energy To Be Transformed Across Benin Under New Eib – Engie Energy Access Initiative

Households, smallholders and entrepreneurs in remote locations across Benin will be able to access reliable and cheap electricity for the first time under a new off-grid solar scheme agreed between leading solar energy company ENGIE Energy Access and the European Investment Bank, one of the world’s largest financiers of renewable energy.   The European Investment […]
West Africa

Offgrid Solar Sector Seeks to Rebuild Investor Confidence

There are signs of post-pandemic recovery for Africa’s offgrid solar industry. Now it needs to lure back the investors. Africa’s offgrid solar power industry is growing but is in urgent need of further support, as the sector struggles to shake off the negative impact of the Covid pandemic on providers of equipment and services, and […]
West Africa

Not by renewables alone

How do renewables stack up against traditional forms of energy in Africa? As Jackson Foley reports, it’s a shifting picture – but don’t count out coal just yet. “Africa is not a country” is the title of a new book seeking to correct foreigners’ views of the continent. Its author wants her international readers to see Africa just as its own peoples see it: huge, varied and facing many different circumstances. Anyone who works in the African energy sector knows this already. There are vast differences between the markets in Egypt and Equatorial Guinea or between Senegal and South Africa. There is no ‘one size fits all solution’ to the continent’s yawning electricity gaps.

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