Power Africa Newsletter, May 2020
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Power Africa Welcomes Mark Carrato as Acting Coordinator
We are thrilled to welcome Mark Carrato as Power Africa's Acting Coordinator!
Mark is intimately familiar with Power Africa and spent many years advancing our energy access goals. As Chief of the Office of Economic Growth at the USAID Mission in Kenya and East Africa, Mark led efforts to increase megawatts and connections, and was an instrumental force behind the
Power Africa Guide to Community Engagement for Power Projects in Kenya.
Prior to joining Power Africa, Mark served as the Director of the USAID Office of Central America and Mexican Affairs, where he had oversight of development policy and a regional portfolio of approximately $350 million annually. Mark also served as Deputy Director of the Office of Economic Growth and Transformation at the USAID Mission in Ethiopia, where he negotiated and implemented the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Ethiopia. As Acting Director/Deputy Director the Office of Agriculture at the USAID Mission in Afghanistan, he led strategic oversight and implementation of the Mission's $1 billion agriculture portfolio. He also served with USAID in Pakistan and Colombia, where he managed a $180 million alternative development contract.
Under Mark's leadership, Power Africa will continue to build on our exceptional momentum working with our partners to increase energy across sub-Saharan Africa.
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A Message from Acting Coordinator Mark Carrato
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Today, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to electricity is more critical than ever. Electricity powers modern medical equipment, helps communities stay healthy and safe, and will lay the foundation for economic recovery.
As the initiative implementing the United States Government’s energy policy in sub-Saharan Africa, Power Africa brings the collective resources of 12 U.S. Government agencies and over 170 public and private sector partners to the COVID-19 response. Together, we are focused on the recovery of the health, community life and economy in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our programs and partners are working swiftly and effectively to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Within weeks of the U.S. Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Power Africa quickly redirected $2.9 million to support the financial viability of sub-Saharan Africa’s off-grid energy sector, and to assess power loads for hospitals, clinics and critical care facilities in Nigeria.
Electricity is a vital service and critical to maintaining safety and delivering healthcare services. A
2019 World Bank study found that, on average, only 34 percent of hospitals and 28 percent of health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have access to reliable electricity, and about 58 percent of healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have no electricity at all. Effective and efficient power generation, transmission, and distribution is required to supply electricity to hospitals, clinics, and cold chain storage facilities; maintain critical life-saving and diagnostic equipment; and support the information infrastructure necessary for coordinated and effective global and local response efforts.
Since 2013, Power Africa has helped bring over 4,000 megawatts of new and more reliable power generation to sub-Saharan Africa. This new electricity is powering hospitals, businesses, and services that strengthen a government’s ability to keep its citizens healthy and safe, and to respond rapidly to COVID-19. When countries begin the hard work of economic and social recovery, access to reliable electricity will accelerate economic growth and bring schools and business back online.
The brief videos below illustrate how a mini-grid supported by USAID and Power Africa provides reliable electricity to the Eunice Memorial Medical Centre on Uganda’s Bugala Island, helping Dr. Ssuubi Muwonge and team respond to the Covid-19 pandemic; how off-grid energy solutions help those living beyond the grid during a global health pandemic; and how the United States Government is bolstering electricity transmission and distribution networks across sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen our partner countries' self-reliance and capacity to manage COVID-19.
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More than 150 African energy sector stakeholders convened at the 6
th Annual Power Africa Partners Day in February to share their experiences and set a course for the future. Each person focused on one key question:
How do we capitalize on Power Africa’s momentum, and the energy revolution it is catalyzing, to continue to turn lights on across sub-Saharan Africa?
To devise solutions, representatives from private sector companies, African governments and utilities, multilateral and bilateral development organizations, and 10 U.S. Government agencies met on the margins of the Powering Africa Summit, swapping ideas and working through specific issues currently preventing African governments from ending energy poverty as we know it.
The outstanding turnout and diverse group at Partners Day truly demonstrated
the Power of Partnership and reinforces the shared belief that the long-term impact of Power Africa will be felt for generations to come.
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Through industry networking, catalytic grants and thought-provoking illustrations, Power Africa contributed to the development of the global off-grid solar market at the 2020 Global Off-grid Solar Forum and Expo in Nairobi in February.
We announced awardees for three new grant windows and hosted a foresight session highlighting four possible scenarios for the future of the off-grid energy sector in sub-Saharan Africa. Artist James Durno was present to create real-time illustrations to visualize these scenarios.
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Power Africa Welcomes New Partner Mytilineos (Metka)
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MYTILINEOS is one of Greece’s premier industrial companies and a global leader in the EPC sector (engineering, procurement and construction) through
METKA. The company specializes in the construction of power plants from design and procurement through to construction and completion. It has vast experience in developing renewable energy solutions, including large-scale to small-scale installations, solar PV farms, battery energy storage systems, firm frequency response, and hybrid on-grid or off-grid installations. In partnership with Power Africa, METKA intends to work on on-grid and off-grid renewable projects in Nigeria and Uganda.
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Ethiopia’s First Independent Power Producer Transaction Agreements Finalized
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On March 31, Ethiopia's first independent power producer (IPP) transactions, the Corbetti and Tulu Moye geothermal projects (50 megawatts each in the first phase), moved closer to financial close as project sponsors and the Government of Ethiopia signed the amended power purchase agreements (PPA) and implementation agreements (IA) for the two projects.
The signing of the PPA and IA is significant because it signals resolution of several important commercial and regulatory issues that had inhibited these and future power projects in Ethiopia from advancing to financial close.
The historic Corbetti and Tulu Moye projects have been under negotiation for several years; Power Africa initiated support alongside the
AfDB's African Legal Support Facility in 2014. Power Africa partners Berkeley Energy and Reykjavik Geothermal are behind the Corbetti project, while Reykjavik Geothermal and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) are involved in the Tulu Moye project.
Once Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers approve the signed PPAs and IAs, and other conditions precedent are fulfilled, including an amendment to the Geothermal Proclamation (Law), project developers can begin drilling to fully measure steam resources. In addition, developers go out to lenders for debt financing, which usually takes 18 to 24 months to secure.
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Corbetti PLC and Tulu Moye Geothermal Project sponsors signing ceremony on March 31, 2020 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia (Power Africa)
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In January, Power Africa traded sun for snow during a visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota and met with several American companies that are interested in expanding in or into sub-Saharan Africa, and that share our goal of increasing electricity access.
We met, among others, with startup
LEMA that creates products and systems to help increase access to clean water and electricity in rural areas of East Africa and
Open Systems International, Inc. that develops systems used for real-time management, production optimization, transport, and delivery networks for electric, transportation, and water utilities.
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To boost connections and propel the island’s economic trajectory, Power Africa and KIS embarked on a productive use of energy (PUE) campaign in 2018 to increase activities that require power and provide a service. Power Africa and KIS conducted a survey to determine PUE opportunities on the island and the latent entrepreneurial capacity. With this information, KIS, with Power Africa grant support, executed a robust PUE promotional and training campaign.
Through 12 workshops, KIS and Power Africa trained more than 256 business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to utilize electricity for better service provision, production, and commerce.
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Investors looking to do well by doing good should take note of the Taiba N’Diaye Wind Farm in rural Senegal. This Power Africa-supported renewable energy project is helping Senegal meet its national electrification goals while directly improving the livelihoods of local residents and their communities.
Wind energy has long been recognized as an environmentally responsible energy option, and the Taiba N’Diaye Wind Farm illustrates that economic benefits extend far beyond solid financial returns for project developers. Wind power can also generate an economic tide that lifts all boats.
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Power Africa Highlights . . .
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Celebrating #EarthDay, #climateacation and #WCID with the winners of the Solar E-Waste Challenge where companies and recycling centers test approaches to reduce e-waste in off-grid solar in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Chekin’s story highlights one of the experiences households have had as a result of gaining access to that electricity.
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Susana is a midwife in central Ghana. Black Star Energy Ltd, an off-grid solutions company that USAID supports, recently electrified her rural community with a solar mini-grid installation.
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With the Power Africa Off-grid Project, Rekik Bekele is bringing solar energy to Ethiopian off-grid communities; and she wants more women to come with her.
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Teresa lives in Chadiza, a small town in Zambia’s Eastern Province, where she runs a one-stop-shop that offers not only drinks, food, and toothpaste, but also pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar home systems (SHS).
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The admissions team is currently reviewing and selecting candidates who will be informed of their status in due time.
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Our Enabling Environment Tracker has been updated with new indicators and data.
The Enabling Environment Tracker is an interactive data aggregation and visualization tool that pulls together publicly available data on policy and regulatory trends across Africa’s energy sector into one, easily accessible location.
Our hope is that our African government partners, private sector partners, development partners, and other stakeholders use the tool to assess enabling environment progress, inform technical assistance interventions, and guide advocacy for needed reforms.
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