In recent decades, there has been a major increase in investment in power generation across Africa. However, investment in transmission hasn’t kept pace and is now a major constraint to improving energy access for the more than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa currently living without reliable power.
Transmission investment is not only critical for increasing energy access, it’s also integral to economic development on the continent and crucial to the clean energy transition. Investment in grid stability is necessary in most countries to connect areas of high renewable generation potential with areas with demand, and to support a greater percentage of intermittent renewables being introduced into the generation mix.
To place the need in context, a 2017 World Bank report suggests that expanding the transmission network requires between $3.2 billion and $4.3 billion every year until 2040. Public sector finances in most countries in Africa cannot support this level of investment by governments, and it is clear that alternative forms of funding are now necessary in order to increase energy access levels and support the energy transition.
In this publication, our Head of Business Development Chris Flavin and Ryan Ketchum from legal firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, share how we can address the challenge and highlight some models that can facilitate private investment in transmission on the continent. You can read it here.