A $311 million loan arrangement for renewable energy projects has been made by the World Bank with four countries in West and Central Africa.
With the use of battery energy and storage technologies, about 106 megawatts (MW) of solar power generation capacity and a 41 MW increase in hydroelectric capacity will be financed.
The nations are Chad, Togo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The funds will support interventions in the distribution and transmission of power.
President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, who oversaw the signing ceremony on Wednesday, declared that the agreement marked the start of a revolution in the countries’ access to and supply of energy.
One of the lowest rates of electrification and some of the most expensive energy prices in Sub-Saharan Africa are found in West and Central Africa. As fuel prices rise, so have energy expenditures as a result of the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A portion of the funding from a new World Bank Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project will also go toward the West Africa Power Pool, a regional strategy to strengthen the subregion’s electricity supply.
The project marked the first time four nations had been brought together for a regional energy strategy, according to Boutheina Guermazi, Director for Regional Integration at the World Bank.
Source: Reuters
