GEAPP and Rockefeller Foundation advance new energy access projects in more than a dozen African countries
During the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and The Rockefeller Foundation introduced nearly two dozen new energy access projects in 11 African countries and across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the largest regional economic organization in Africa. The projects are funded through an initial US$10 million commitment by the two organizations to the Mission 300 Technical Assistance Facility (TA Facility), which was launched in September 2024 to provide more flexible, short- and medium-term technical assistance (TA). This collaboration is in support of the World Bank Group and African Development Bank’s (AfDB) ambitious initiative to provide improved electricity access to 300 million Africans by 2030.
“The Rockefeller Foundation created the Mission 300 Accelerator to demonstrate how philanthropy can break through bureaucratic obstacles to jumpstart World Bank and African Development Bank energy projects. In just a few short months, we have worked with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sustainable Energy for All and the banks to advance two dozen projects, putting us on track to bring reliable electricity to 300 million people across Africa at unprecedented speed,” *said Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of the Mission 300 Accelerator.*
“We are delighted to have made significant strides on a series of impactful projects that GEAPP and The Rockefeller Foundation are developing with strategic partners across Africa. The design and preparation of these initiatives is advancing an Africa-led mission that unlocks power where it is needed most. By improving local skills, capacity, and implementation efforts, GEAPP supports African governments, institutional partners, and businesses with new financial tools and bankable projects that boost cooperation and innovation and fuel sustainable growth for communities across the continent,” *said Woochong Um, CEO at GEAPP,* which has more than 50% of its current portfolio by value invested in Africa. In addition to GEAPP’s support for the Accelerator’s new investments, the Alliance, which has 63 projects in more than 20 African countries, is already working intensively with the AfDB and World Bank to design and accelerate electrification efforts in several African markets.
Currently, Africa has an average electrification rate of 50% and is home to approximately 600 million without access to reliable electricity. Co-housed within GEAPP and RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC), The Rockefeller Foundation’s public charity launched in 2020 to pool and align resources, the Accelerator is designed to swiftly deploy philanthropic capital for TA across sub-Saharan Africa. In support of African governments’ and the two multilateral development banks’ efforts to accelerate the pace and efficiency of electricity access projects across the continent, the TA Facility’s first projects are expected to include:
*Burkina Faso:* Providing support for public-private partnership models focused on rural electrification efforts where currently power access rates are one of the lowest in West Africa (AfDB). TA will also provide feasibility studies and design for the Global Electrification Management Platform (GEMP), which aims to implement an integrated digital solution, designed to serve as a centralized information and management system to streamline the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of grid investments while monitoring private sector involvement and identifying non-electrified areas.
*Chad:* Supporting a feasibility study for low and medium voltage electrical distribution under the Cameroon-Chad Interconnection Project (PIRECT), an AfDB-led effort that aims to connect the Southern and Northern power systems of Cameroon. Assistance will enable electricity trade between the two countries and increase access to electricity in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital city, through the construction of three different new transmission lines in the area. TA will also improve performance of the local utility, SNE, through a series of recommended actions to address the utilities inefficiencies and constraints by a senior energy consultant. As a result of this support, roughly 256,000 people will have new access to electricity by 2030, where currently there is an average electrification rate of around 7% (AfDB).
*COMESA:* Providing a combination of financial, technical, legal, environmental and carbon finance advisory services to support the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and its subsidiaries under the World Bank’s Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) program Regional Energy Access Financing Platform (REAF) to accelerate access to sustainable and clean electricity targeting 5 million people. The assistance is focused on enhancing the capacity of TDB and its borrowers to manage complex Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) transactions by providing comprehensive due diligence, transaction structuring, and strategic advisory services for renewable energy projects and clean cooking companies under the TDB debt financing facility and the regional result-based financing facility.
*Côte d’Ivoire:* Supporting studies for Ivoirian social infrastructure electrification, including gathering education and health center energy access data, along with evaluating the operation of existing mini-grids, which will additionally include recommendations for the prospective financing, operation, and management models for future mini-grids. While Cote d’Ivoire has an access-to-electricity rate of 71% (World Bank), thanks to sustained investment by the World Bank, AfDB, other lending institutions, and the Ivorian public and private sectors, these studies will allow access developers to reach those schools, health centers, and communities that remain unelectrified.
*Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC):* Strengthening the capacity of the rural and peri-urban electrification agency, Agence Nationale d’Électrification (ANSER), to implement its Mwinda Fund, which aims to bring electricity to 136,000 households by 2030. This support aims to mobilize private sector participation in electrification projects. The TA includes developing operational processes, capacity building, and providing strategic and technical assistance. The broader objective is to mobilize additional resources, targeting US$500 million by the end of 2030, contributing to the DRC’s ambitious electrification goals. The TA will support private sector led DRE projects in the DRC.
*Liberia:* Assisting the World Bank’s electricity sector strengthening and electricity access program can deliver new or enhanced electricity services to 5.3 million people by 2030, where currently only 33.2% of the population has access to electricity (World Bank). The TA will also support the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) to prepare electric network planning and design manuals, incorporate relevant and applicable international standards, and procure operational and maintenance manuals for local transmission and distribution networks to be adopted as national reference documents. These documents will guide LEC to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain its transmission and distribution networks in accordance with internationally accepted standards, while simultaneously enabling LEC to plan and design substation, transmission, and distribution system upgrades in identified gap communities.
*Madagascar:* Updating and integrating national and regional electrification plans, where on average 3 out of 10 people having have access to electricity (World Bank). TA will also provide the government with recommendations on promoting the commercial sustainability of its solar kit distribution program (e.g., providing reliable after-sales service for solar kits) and its results-based financing (RBF) program, as well as on-the-ground support for local businesses that will be responsible for providing after-sales service for solar kits distributed through the social distribution and RBF programs.
*Malawi:* Advancing peri-urban electrification planning to improve efficiency in implementing both grid and off-grid electrification programs through cost reduction and a higher pace of connections, where only 23% of the population has access to electricity (World Bank).
*Mozambique:* Providing support across the value chain for scaling up renewable energy generation and implementing institutional reforms to ensure that the proposed electrification plan is sustainable and does not compromise quality and reliability of energy supply. Assistance will contribute to developing a plan to ensure that environmental, social, and stakeholder plans are developed to support the World Bank’s ASCENT Mozambique project. Currently, around 40% of the population have access to electricity through the grid or mini/off-grid systems (IEA).
*Nigeria:* Supporting the Nigeria Distributed Renewable Energy Enhancement Facility (DREEF), which seeks to provide project preparation and sponsor support to pathfinder DRE developers including interconnected mini-grid projects, mini-grid projects, and standalone solar system as a service business model. The TA will also support project preparation for transmission and projects under the AfDB’s Desert to Power program in the country, where the rate of population growth has outpaced the increase in electrification (World Bank). The support will also provide technical and quality review of projects under the Desert to Power program and provide a project coordination office for all electrification projects.
*Tanzania:* Reviewing lessons learned and providing recommendations for improving the Renewable Energy Investment Facility’s (REIF) operating guidelines to accelerate off-grid access, which has made tremendous progress in increasing the electrification rate from 7% in 2011 to 38% in 2020 (World Bank). The TA will also help improve legal and regulatory frameworks for private investment in the power sector and provide support for the Tanzania Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation in Eastern and Southern Africa Program (ASCENT Tanzania), which targets 4 million new connections.
*Zambia:* Updating the Electricity and Energy Regulation Acts to align with recent policy changes in the energy sector to promote the use of metering and deploying tariffs that will help improve the performance of the utility. With an overall electrification rate of 42%, these updates are expected to benefit over one million existing grid connections and facilitate the target of 1 million new grid connections by 2030 through various planned access to electricity interventions.
To sustain the momentum of Mission 300, GEAPP, The Rockefeller Foundation, and RFCC, along with Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), are assisting with its implementation and are co-developing philanthropic interventions to help advance the effort. This includes, but is not limited to, promoting productive use of energy, local currency financing, providing support to project developers, and global advocacy.
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*About Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)*
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) is an alliance of philanthropy, governments, technology, policy, and financing partners. Our common mission is to enable emerging and developed economies to shift to a clean energy, pro-growth model that accelerates universal energy access and inclusive economic growth while supporting the global community to meet critical climate goals during the next decade. As an Alliance, we aim to reduce 4 gigatons of future carbon emissions, expand clean energy access to one billion people, and enable 150 million new jobs. With philanthropic partners the IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund, GEAPP works to build the enabling environment, capacity, and market conditions for private sector solutions, catalyze new business models through innovation and entrepreneurship, and deploy high-risk capital to encourage private sector solutions and assist just transition solutions. For more information, please visit www.energyalliance.org and follow us on Twitter at @EnergyAlliance.
*About The Rockefeller Foundation*
The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LI @the-rockefeller-foundation.
*About RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC)*
A charitable offshoot of The Rockefeller Foundation, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC) enables foundations, impact investors, businesses, governments, and other like-minded funders to combine their resources to build funding solutions for social impact and bring about transformational change. RFCC leverages The Rockefeller Foundation’s expertise and resources while collaborating with partners and investors to multiply impact and helps to transform today’s greatest challenges into collaborative solutions. For more information please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org/rf-catalytic-capital-inc
*Media Contacts:*
Ashley Chang, The Rockefeller Foundation, media@rockfound.org Eric Gay, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), media@energyalliance.org
