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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

AfDB earmarks $379.6mn to

assist Sahel countries adopt

solar, low-emissions power

AFRICA THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has The Green Climate Fund in October 2021
approved the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financ- approved $150mn in concessional resources
ing Facility to which it envisages committing up for the facility, which is expected to leverage
to $379.6mn in financing and technical assis- around $437mn in additional financing from
tance over the next seven years. other development finance institutions (DFIs),
The facility, covering Burkina Faso, Chad, commercial banks and private sector developers.
Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, aims to assist the “The innovative blended finance approach of
countries in adopting a low-emission power the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Facility will de-risk,
generation pathway by making use of the Sahel and therefore catalyse, private sector investment
region’s abundant solar potential. in solar power generation in the region,” said Dr.
It will focus on utility-scale solar generation Kevin Kariuki, AfDB vice president for Power,
through independent power producers (IPPs) Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth.
and energy storage solutions and is expected to “This will lead to transformational energy
result in 500MW of additional solar generation generation and bridge the energy access deficit
capacity and facilitate electricity access to some in some of Africa’s most fragile countries,” he
695,000 households. added.
The facility will be implemented as part of The Global Center on Adaptation is provid-
the broader Desert to Power initiative, a flagship ing technical assistance to strengthen adapta-
programme led by the AfDB. The objective is to tion and resilience measures undertaken in the
light up and power the Sahel region by adding facility as part of the Africa Adaptation Program
10GW of solar generation capacity and provid- in partnership with the African Development
ing electricity to around 250mn people in the 11 Bank.™
Sahelian countries by 2030.

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