Page 17 - AfrElec Annual Review 2021

AfrElec OCTOBER AfrElec

Green Climate Fund invests

$150mn in Desert to Power

WEST AFRICA THE Green Climate Fund (GCF) has invested adequate capacity of national institutions in the
$150mn in the African Development Bank’s G5 Sahel countries.
(AfDB) Desert to Power G5 Financing Facility. “The Desert to Power G5 Sahel Facility is
Desert-to-Power is a flagship renewable a significant shot in the arm for the Desert to
energy and economic development initiative led Power initiative. It will spur private sector invest-
by the AfDB that aims to light up and power the ments in developing solar generation capacity
Sahel region by building 10 GW of PV generat- in the G5 Sahel countries. This will provide an
ing capacity at public, private, grid and off-grid opportunity to realise Dr Adesina’s and by exten-
projects by 2030. sion the African Development Bank’s vision of
The objective of the umbrella Desert to Power the Desert to Power initiative as an integral part
G5 Financing Facility is to assist the G5 Sahel of the solution for tackling climate change in the
countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Maurita- Sahel. The timing of the approval is also perfect,
nia and Niger – to adopt a low emission power coming just before COP26,” said AfDB vice pres-
generation path by making use of the region’s ident Kevin Kariuki.
abundant solar potential. The Green Climate Fund is a fund estab-
It will mobilise $966mn over a seven-year lished within the framework of the UNFCCC as
implementation period. The initiative is an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism
expected to lead to substantial CO2 emission to assist developing countries in adaptation and
reductions – projected at over 14.4mn tCO2equ. mitigation practices to counter climate change.
The facility consists of both public and private Reacting to the approval, GCF Deputy Exec-
sector sub-projects, which will be implemented utive Director Javier Manzanares said: “We are
under three components: The first entails grid proud to be part of this innovative project with
investments and investments in storage solu- our partners at the African Development Bank.
tions to de-risk solar IPPs and pave the way for The Desert to Power G5 Sahel Facility has the
the uptake of a regional solar market. potential to make an enormous difference in
The second component entails the provision people’s lives across the Sahel by tapping into the
of concessional finance and guarantees for new immense potential of solar energy, generating
solar independent power producer (IPP) plants cheaper, reliable and low-emission electricity.
to add over 500 MW of solar energy generation GCF’s catalytic financing alongside that of the
capacity. The third component involves techni- African Development Bank and the private sec-
cal assistance to support the creation of a clear tor will together mobilise nearly $1bn for this
and predictable environment for private sector truly transformative project.” ™
solar investments and the development of an

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