Billions of dollars are due to be invested in African power projects over the next decade – creating opportunities for logistics companies across the continent.In November the World Bank Group announced that it had teamed up with other financiers and development agencies to establish the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Platform (DARES).The World Bank, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has committed $2.7 billion to finance access for around 40 million people.At current rates of electrification, only eight sub-Saharan countries will achieve universal electricity access by 2030, and some will take more than 100 years to fully electrify, according to the World Bank.DARES will have five core areas: mini-grids, off-grid solar markets, systems for schools and health facilities, solar irrigation and cold chain for farmers, and “innovative business models” to displace diesel generation and improve access reliability, according to the World Bank.Within the South African Development Community (SA DC), South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique announced funding during the COP 27 Summit.South Africa has secured loan agreements of €600m (R10.7bn) from France and Germany to aid its transition to solar PV and wind.The funding is the first of the $8.5bn (R153bn) pledged to SA by the International Partners Group (IPG) – UK, US, France, Germany and EU. Namibia has announced that it has secured €540m ($544m) in climate finance from the Dutch government and European Investment Bank.This is expected to support a new green hydrogen sector built around Namibia’s abundant sunlight and wind.In May, the EU's energy strategy set a goal of importing at least 10m tons of "green" hydrogen by 2030, with another 10m tonnes to be produced within the bloc. On his return from COP 27, Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi announced that the International Finance Corporation had committed $120m to finance the Temane power line project.The more-than-$2bn-worth Temane energy project consists of a 450MW gas-fired power plant in the north connected to the main grid through a 563km power line.Speaking at a Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) event, the World Bank group president David Malpass said, “Southern Africa is generously endowed with renewable energy resources, an abundance of sun in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and hydro resources in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.”Distribution would be through SAPP, which Malpass described as “one of the most advanced power pools, not only in Africa but also beyond. There is substantial scope for much more trading and for members to realise more benefits from integration”
