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New Deal for Energy in Africa as African Development Bank to mobilize $55 billion investment
The development bank is also supporting a large-scale wind farm at Lake Turkana in Kenya, which should start operating in about two years and have a capacity of 300 megawatts, Rusamba said in a phone interview.
The private sector can play a key role in the development of Africa’s energy sector if provided with an enabling environment, said Tony Elumelu, the co-chair of the African Energy Leaders Group, at the meeting in Abidjan.
“Initially the cost was the biggest challenge to building renewables in Africa, but this is no longer the case as the prices have fallen,” said Rusamba. “We are working with governments to create frameworks to encourage private investment in clean energy.”
The governments of Ivory Coast and Democratic Republic of Congo have already pledged to support the deal and help mobilize efforts to work toward ending the continent’s energy deficit in the next decade.
