NEWS

International partners in both the public and private sectors must play their role in facilitating sub-Saharan Africa’s energy transformation. In particular, they should support the electrification of rural areas, where three-fifths of the sub-Saharan African population lives. International government support is especially important, as it can “crowd in” private investment, most notably through innovative public-private partnerships.

China and the United States are already supporting electrification in sub-Saharan Africa. China has invested substantially in large-scale electricity projects, while the US has put in place a comprehensive initiative – “Power Africa” – to scale-up electrification, particularly in rural areas, through public-private partnerships.

The EU and its member states, on the other hand, have created a myriad of fragmented initiatives to promote electrification in sub-Saharan Africa. This limits Europe’s potential leverage for crowding in private investment and stimulating energy sector reforms in sub-Saharan African countries. In this labyrinthine network of initiatives, understanding who is doing what is challenging even from an EU perspective. So, imagine how it looks from a sub-Saharan African perspective, when other international counterparts, such as China or the US, present themselves in a far more coherent way.

Europe’s current fragmented system creates overlaps, inefficiencies and, on the whole, higher transaction costs. European taxpayers’ money would be far better spent if channelled through a single facility, aimed at coordinating the initiatives of European institutions and EU countries through a unique platform. This policy paper explores how exactly that could be done.

Download the policy paper: http://bruegel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/PC-17-2017_1.pdf