The planning and coordinating technical body of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) is working to accelerate the development and implementation of Africa's high-priority renewable-energy projects.
This is Nepad’s contribution to the implementation of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative that was endorsed at the AU Summit in June and also to the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative.
Nepad will provide a platform where project owners at national level can directly present their chosen projects to developers and financiers and strike business deals for either the development of projects to bankability stage or to financial close if it has already reached bankability.
The first batch of projects will be from the countries that have completed or are in the process of completing the Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus of SE4ALL.
Nepad is cooperating with the organisers of Africa Energy Indaba 2017, which will be held in Johannesburg, in February, to host focused sessions where country project owners will present their selected projects to potential investors and developers for funding.
"This will be the first time that governments will showcase their high-priority renewable-energy projects to the open market and look to attract private sector participation and investment,” says Nepad senior energy adviser Professor Mosad Elmissiry.
The African energy sector requires $40-billion worth of investment yearly.
This presents a major opportunity for companies to explore business opportunities in the African energy sector.