📋 Tender Overview
A financing facility associated with the African Development Banks Desert to Power Initiative was featured at a side event held on the margins of the just-ended Africa Energy Forum in Brussels Belgium.The event dubbed Accelerating private sector investments in the G5 Sahel - leveraging the Desert to Power Financing Facility was held on 23 June to engage the private sector on the financial resources needed for the innovative Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility which forms part of the broader energy Initiative.The Facility aims to assist G5 Sahel countries notably Burkina Faso Chad Mali Mauritania and Niger to adopt a low-emission power generation pathway by making use of the regions abundant solar potential. It will focus on utility-scale solar generation through independent power producers and energy storage solutions. These investments will be backed by a technical assistance component to enhance implementation capacity strengthen the enabling environment for private sector investments and ensure gender and climate mainstreaming.The event moderated by the African Development Banks Director for Renewable Energy Dr. Daniel Schroth brought together senior representatives from beneficiary countries in the Sahel development partners and the private sector.During the session African Development Bank Vice President for Power Energy Climate and Green Growth Dr. Kevin Kariuki and Gilles Vaes CEO of InfraCo Africa representing Private Infrastructure Development Group PIDG an infrastructure project developer and investor signed a Letter of Intent in which both parties agreed to deepen their cooperation on Desert to Power. PIDG on an indicative non-binding basis committed to allocate a total of 300 million towards the Desert to Power Initiative.Following the signing Kariuki expressed hopes that the partnership between PIDG and the Bank would bring increased financing and expertise towards the realization of the Desert to Power initiative.The partnership will assist in ramping-up private sector financing to accelerate the implementation of the Desert to Power specifically in the G5 Sahel Countries of Mali Chad Burkina Faso Niger and Mauritania where the G5 Sahel Facility will add 500 MW of new solar power generation and facilitate electricity access to some 695000 households about 4 million people and reduce emissions by over 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent Kevin Kariuki said.Philippe Valahu CEO of PIDG said he was delighted about the signing. This will build on the existing partnership and further strengthen the collaboration between the Bank and PIDG on co-financing solar projects in the Sahel region he noted.The signing ceremony was followed by a panel discussion on how to increase private sector investments in the solar sector. Panellists included the Abdessalem Ould Mohamed Saleh Minister of Petroleum Mines and Energy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania Mark Carrato Power Africa Coordinator Roland Janssens Director Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund EAIF and Hans Olav Kvalvaag Senior Vice President New Ventures Scatec.Minister Saleh reiterated Mauritanias firm commitment to the Desert to Power initiative and urged the private sector and partners to accelerate the delivery of the initiative.
