Power Africa Newsletter, September 2020
Power Africa is a U.S. Government-led partnership coordinated by USAID
IN THIS ISSUE
COVID-Response
Off-Grid Solar Open Letter
$2.6M Healthcare Electrification Grants
NEW Resources and Reports
NEW Partners
and MORE
Coordinator's Corner
It has been nearly six months since I joined Power Africa as the Acting Coordinator -- and in that short time, the world changed dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated tens of millions of lives across the globe and is especially challenging for people, communities, and businesses that lack access to reliable electricity. 

Recognizing the vital role of electricity in powering essential services, Power Africa responded quickly to address the specific energy access challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. Power Africa’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts focus on three main areas: healthcare facility electrification, support to utilities and regulators, and support to the off-grid sector. In addition, we continue to ensure that Power Africa’s cross-cutting activities provide technical leadership to accelerate these efforts across the energy sector. Already, Power Africa redirected $4.1 million to bolster and expand off-grid electrification for health care facilities and to support new and ongoing projects in sub-Saharan Africa affected by the pandemic. Each week we assess other ways to prioritize resources in our partner countries. 

Despite the global economic slowdown, we recently celebrated some important energy sector wins. Many of these successes are the result of years of diligent work by more than 70 expert Power Africa advisors embedded in ministries and utilities. These advisors collaborate with our networks of interagency partners in U.S. embassies to understand the market and drive power project development from the back-of-napkin phase all the way to Lights On!

Partnership is at the core of the Power Africa model. We support and encourage the private sector to lead in driving power generation deals by providing companies working in the African energy sector with market intelligence, transaction support, technical assistance, and financing. We recently welcomed four new private sector partners: Mitsubishi, LEMA, Gridworks, and Milele. As our partnership grows, we will work to ensure cross-collaboration for like-minded private sector firms, development institutions, and African governments. Read on for great stories about our interagency collaboration with the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as our work with the private sector in the off-grid space. 

We joined several partners in July to launch the Smart Communities Coalition Innovation Fund, which seeks private sector-led innovative energy solutions for displaced populations and crisis-affected host communities. The grant application window is open until September 30, please visit the website to learn more. 

On September 18, I joined U.S. Ambassador to the African Union, Jessye Lapenn, and Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of the African Union Development Agency, to renew our shared commitment to seek solutions to energy poverty on the continent. As we noted during our virtual MOU signing, AUDA-NEPAD was among Power Africa’s first partners, and we are honored to continue the collaboration. 

I also had the opportunity to join a few public forums to discuss Power Africa’s approach, priorities, and successes. I delivered a keynote address for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference 2020 Energy Braintrust panel, and also participated in a panel for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Annual Conference, discussing opportunities for U.S. companies to engage in the development of the energy sector in sub-Saharan Africa. 

As always, we welcome your feedback. Please reach out to us anytime at [email protected] and someone from our team in Washington or Pretoria will get back to you. We know that the coming months will be particularly challenging, but I remain very optimistic that together we will continue to help electrify sub-Saharan Africa as we have for the last seven years. 

All the best for the weeks ahead,

Mark Carrato, Acting Coordinator, Power Africa

Within weeks of the U.S. Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Power Africa began reprioritizing funds and has thus far redirected more than $4.1million to support the financial viability of sub-Saharan Africa’s off-grid energy sector; to assess power loads for hospitals, clinics and critical care facilities in Nigeria; and to support regulators and utilities struggling with the unfolding impact of the pandemic in Southern Africa and West. Similar redirections are planned for Power Africa programs in East Africa.

These information sheets aim to serve as a quick reference for off-grid energy companies operating in sub-Saharan Africa with general information to supplement in-country guidance on preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
Open Letter
The off-grid solar sector has a vital role to play in COVID-19 response, but it needs funding. READ our joint open letter as we seek to partner with governments to electrify health facilities and provide relief funding to the sector.
Power Africa/AUDA-NEPAD MoU Renewal

We're excited to announce that recently, during a virtual signing ceremony, we renewed our Memorandum of Understanding with AUDA-NEPAD!

Partnerships are fundamental to how we do our work at Power Africa, and we take immense pride in the shared work that we’ve undertaken with all of our partners since our inception.

AUDA-NEPAD - when it was just called NEPAD - was one of our earliest partners and we look forward to collaborating with them, the U.S. Mission to the African Union and the U.S. Department of State to turn more lights on in Africa.

Welcome to our new private sector partners!

Gridworks
Milele
LEMA
Mitsubishi
Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) second compact in Ghana includes multiple projects that invest in power infrastructure and institutional capacity to improve reliability, benefiting key hospitals and clinics in the country. One of these institutions is the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nation’s biggest hospital, which is treating patients with COVID-19.Thanks to MCC investments, energy costs have decreased more than 40% at the facility. LEARN MORE


Thanks to emergency working capital provided by United States African Development Foundation, a Power Africa partner, Nigerian solar startup, i-Kabin, has been able to continue operations in spite of a lockdown that heavily restricted movement and limited customer acquisition.
Power Africa, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), announces grants totaling $2,620,650 to solar energy companies to provide reliable, affordable off-grid electricity to nearly 300 healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. READ MORE
Kipeto Wind Farm
In early June, all 60 GE Renewable Energy wind turbines are now successfully installed at Kipeto Wind Farm!

The wind power plant in Kajiado County in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya is the country’s second-largest wind farm and will add 100 megawatts of renewable energy to Kenya’s national grid.

Being one of the first wind IPPs in Kenya, Kipeto paves the way for future private investment in Kenya’s nascent wind-energy sector.

Congratulations to everyone involved! As a trusted partner on this project, we’re proud to have helped bring it to financial close.
Scaling accessibility of off-grid, energy-efficient appliances contributes to the mitigation of climate change by reducing and preventing emission of greenhouse gases. In this campaign, Efficiency for Access will highlight how appliance efficiency can deliver tremendous reductions and avoid unintended
Efficiency for Access Appliances Campaign
consequences of climate change in off-grid settings. LEARN MORE
At a virtual launch ceremony in Lagos, Power Africa and the Lagos State Government signed a Letter of Cooperation to formally launch the Lagos State Integrated Resource Plan initiative.
SolarWorks! in Malawi is piloting the use of solar-powered appliances, including domestic solar sewing machines, to improve livelihoods and generate economic activity and employment in Malawi.
The new VeraSol.org brings quality assurance resources for solar energy kits, off-grid appliances, and productive uses on a single platform. The website features a new interactive, open-source Product Database containing the largest collection of independently-tested and certified solar energy kits, fans, TVs, refrigerators and solar water pumps. The program is now soliciting feedback on their expanded QA service offerings and new brand. Share your thoughts.

To stay up to date with Power Africa events, visit our NEW events page.

If you've missed our most recent virtual events, you can listen to or watch them on demand.
These reports provide insights into the opportunities and risks associated off-grid solar energy markets in various countries and gives companies, investors, governments, and other stakeholders a deeper understanding of the market.

Reports available for:
  • Cameroon
  • Côte d’Ivoire
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Ethiopia
  • GhanaKenya
  • Niger
  • Rwanda
  • Senegal
  • Tanzania
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