President Barack Obama’s announcement last June of an initiative to improve access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electrical power for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa who need such access, has generated a great deal of discussion on the subject but little action to date from small and midsize U.S. companies.
On January 30, the Africa America Institute will host a discussion in New York City to explore the challenges and economic potential of President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. Panelists representing the public, private and nonprofit sectors will offer perspectives on strengthening the technical infrastructure and human resource needs to expand Africa’s access to energy and promote sustainable development and growth.
And from Turkey to South Africa, the initiative is bound to come up at this year’s roster of conferences on powering Africa.
Now comes word that the Obama administration is taking the bull by the horns. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will lead an Energy Business Development Mission to West Africa with stops in Accra, Ghana, and Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria, from May 18-23. The mission should help U.S. companies launch or increase their business in West Africa, in the areas related to developing and managing energy resources and systems, building out power generation and transmission, and distribution.
“In line with President Obama’s U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, this mission is an opportunity to connect U.S. company products, services and expertise to support Africa’s enormous power potential,” Secretary Pritzker said.
Companies interested in taking advantage of Washington’s leg-up for them in Africa’s power market have until March 14 to complete an application online.
Business opportunities inherent in addressing a problem of such magnitude are immense.
Consider that nearly 70 percent of the region’s population, some 600 million people, has no access to electricity. It is not unusual to see students studying with kerosene lamps or under street lights at night, for example.
The 70 percent figure climbs to more than 85 percent when only rural areas are assessed. Those are staggering figures for a region that has long held significant potential to develop clean, geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar energy.
According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Saharan Africa will require more than $300 billion in investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030. Currently, the Africa Development Bank reports, the entire installed generation capacity of Africa’s 48 Sub-Saharan countries is just 68 gigawatts, no more than Spain’s The bank expects to allocate as much as $3 billion over the next five years to the sector, an amount that will leverage at least four times more related investments.
President Obama’s Power Africa, meanwhile, promises to kick in more than $7 billion in financial support over the next five years to help countries in the region, beginning with Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, expand their generation capacity and access to electricity.
