National Compacts Launched In Bid To Kickstart Energy Reform

With thirty African countries formally endorsing Mission 300 at the recent Africa Energy Summit in Tanzania, the race is now on to provide energy access to 300m Africans by 2030. The success of this ambitious initiative - which is backed by the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other development partners - hinges on how effectively African governments can collaborate with the private sector to transform the power sector.

In a bid to kickstart reform efforts, twelve African countries presented their national energy compacts at the summit.

Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Liberia, Zambia, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal all presented compacts which outline the concrete steps that policymakers in each country will take to reform their energy sectors, attract capital from private investors, and boost electricity provision. They are time-bound, data-driven, and, by being endorsed at the highest level, are designed to ensure accountability. Additional countries on the continent are expected to follow suit in the coming months.

While each country's action plan is unique, they share key common features - they primarily focus on clean, renewable, and affordable energy, and they all invite the private sector to play a significant role.

For instance, in Liberia - a country of 5.56 million people where electricity access is concentrated in the capital Monrovia and surrounding areas - the government is banking on distributed renewable energy DRE to cost-effectively bring electric power to settlements outside Monrovia. Liberia aims to mobilise 70m of private capital for utility-scale solar and another 80-100m for DRE and clean cooking initiatives.