AAAP in the Media
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2
The Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility
The Sahel region faces more challenges to achieving sustainable development in the face of poverty, insecurity and climate change than perhaps any other. The region also includes five of the ten poorest nations in the world (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger). Together these form the G5 Sahel, where more than three quarters of the 86 million people who live there have no access to electricity.
This region also has some of the highest solar energy irradiation and photovoltaic potential in the world, though economic development is constrained in part by the energy supply gap. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility aims to tap this ‘free’ resource by increasing solar power generation and electricity access, while addressing structural challenges in the energy sector.
The overall aim is to assist G5 Sahel countries to adopt low-emission solar power generation through independent power producers and energy storage solutions. Investments are to be supported by technical assistance, gender and climate mainstreaming, and encouraging private sector buy-in.
- Add 500 MW of additional solar generation capacity, and connect 695,000 households to an electricity supply.
- Ensure low-emission development to mitigate effects of climate change, by directly reducing emissions by 14.4 Mt CO2e over 25 years.
- Strengthen regional grid management capacity by building human, social, and institutional capital.
- Create harmonized gender-responsive regulatory frameworks for the electricity sector to lower investment barriers and promote gender-responsive approaches.
- Contribute to improving the quality of life of women and men through more sustainable, reliable and affordable energy access by households and workplaces, and supporting productive uses of electricity, industrialization, and basic public services such as health and education.
- Expand opportunities for manufacturing and industries to provide employment and build prosperity.
The Facility is a part of the broader Desert to Power Initiative, that by 2030 aims to light up and power the Sahel region by adding 10 GW of solar generation capacity and provide electricity to 250 million more people in 11 countries from Senegal to Djibouti.
- Rapid climate risk assessment of transmission systems to provide insights to the location of solar plant
- Upstream capacity building through a regional Masterclass on Climate-Resilient PPPs
- Climate risk assessment to quantify impacts of climate hazards on assets, services, and people
- Adaptation and resilience investment options appraisal, to identify and prioritize adaptation and resilience options and present recommendations of investment for each project;
- Advisory services for results and evidence-based planning, management and M&E of interventions
- Improved investment climate and a sustainable market for independent solar power producers created.
- knowledge and technology transfer facilitated to create opportunities for SMEs in the value-chain.
- Environmental co-benefits driven to increase access to electricity and reduce the need for firewood, reduce deforestation and build resilience to climate change.
- Countries in the Sahel region enabled to transform desert areas into an opportunity to meet their energy needs using clean technologies while delivering multiple adaptation co-benefits.
- Strengthened capacity of national institutions in G5 Sahel countries to ensure long-term sustainable ilitydevelopment of their national renewable energy sectors.
- Reliable environment for private sector solar project financing created.
AfDB investment USD 379.6 million
Total of USD 966.7 million
Amount: AfDB investment of USD 379.6 million, of a total of USD 966.7 million
Gabon –The Transgabonaise Road Project
With improvements to the road, rail, shipping and aviation networks a key government goal, Gabon’s transport sector is undergoing a major transformation. While population pressure is modest, with around 1.7m people in the country, existing links are limited; the two largest cities, Libreville and Port-Gentil, had, until work began on one recently, no road connection.
The 828 km long Transgabonaise road is key as it connects Libreville (the capital and coastal city) and Franceville (third Gabonese city after Port-Gentil). It comprises several segments of the Routes Nationales (RN) 1 to 4. Despite its strategic importance, the road has suffered from substantial deterioration due to a lack of maintenance and increased traffic over the last decade, caused by the increase of population and lumbering.
The projects is supporting the rehabilitation of a succession of national roads in Gabon to make it a more efficient logistics axis.
Transgabonaise Road Project is divided into three stages:
- Libreville -AlembéStage
- Alembé -Mikouyi (via Lalara, Koumameyong, Booué, Carrefour Leroy)
- Mikouyi -Franceville
- High-resolution, asset-level climate risk and vulnerability assessments to quantify key climate hazards and associated risks to the road infrastructure assets along the entire road corridor
- Innovative solutions for climate smart transport asset management: Based on specific hazards identified including nature-based solutions (NBS) to optimize the resilience of the assets
- Operational performance metrics and standards for the service level agreement (SLA) based on the direct and indirect climate-related damages identified
- Improvement in the capacity and quality of the road infrastructure
- Creation of over 1,000 direct jobs and over 9,000 indirect jobs
- Saving on operational costs and travel time impacting both households and private sector development though lower transport costs
- Generation of safety benefits and lower greenhouse gas emissions
- Additional 200 billion CFA (or $302.4 million) to Gabon’s GDP (equivalent to ~1.9% according to the 2021 GDP)
- Increased connectivity within Gabon and with neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo-Brazzaville
- Promote economic growth through ease of transportation of goods and services efficiently, allowing businesses to access larger markets and expand their operations
- increased trade, investment, and tourism, stimulating economic development in both urban and rural areas in Gabon
- Enhances regional integration and cooperation by facilitating the movement of people, goods, and services across borders, fostering trade relationships and cultural exchange
- Improve accessibility to remote areas, providing people with better opportunities for education, healthcare, employment, and social services
USD 99.2 million