The World Bank with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other development agencies will promote private investment in distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems to electrify targeted areas quickly and efficiently.
The future facility, which will convert solid waste into electricity, will be located on the island of Mahé, in the northeast of this archipelago located off the coast of East Africa.
The World Bank has been scaling up its support to mini-grids as part of helping countries develop comprehensive electrification programs.
The World Bank Group is committed to supporting developing countries to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and increase resiliency to climate impacts, while also meeting core development priorities. This is the central approach of the Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan, 2021-25, which is already delivering results.
About 95 percent of international public climate finance is provided upfront before a project is operational. Results-based climate finance, on the other hand, is paid when results are achieved, and occasionally upon meeting interim milestones.
“Yet even as the climate crisis accelerates, Africa needs to close its huge energy access gap and achieve its development goals.”
According to the bank, Nigeria has a shortfall of 500,000 barrels per day, while Angola and Russia both have a shortfall of 300,000 barrels per day.
The World Bank has decried the continued spending by the Nigerian government on petrol subsidy, which it said is on track to gobble up N2.9tn this year.
They disrupt critical services, reduce agricultural productivity, and destroy infrastructure and dwellings with increasing frequency. To minimize the effect on people’s wellbeing, these impacts need to be considered and integrated in all investments and projects, regardless of their sector, nature, and financing.
With an electrification rate of 53% in 2019 against only 34% in 2000, West Africa has made significant progress, but challenges remain, and nearly half the population still lacks electricity.
