The World Bank is ready to assume a coordination role to help fund projects that can generate another 30 gigawatts of electricity in Africa over the next five years.
At the sidelines of a Nov. 29 conference in Cape Town, Reynold Duncan, a World Bank energy specialist, told reporters that the bank is now assessing which projects in sub-Saharan Africa “are ready to go.”
“We are not going to provide money for 30 gigawatts,” Duncan said, as quoted by Bloomberg. “I cannot say how much the World Bank has set aside. We take the lead, we try and facilitate investment and financing from others.”
Anton Eberhard, a professor at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, noted that two-thirds of Africans have no access to electricity.
Eberhard said sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to generate 68 gigawatts of power. South Africa accounts for 40 gigawatts, while 33 countries can generate below 50 megawatts of power and 11 can produce less than 100 megawatts, he added.
