African mini-grid industry stakeholders have warned that the goal of connecting 300 million people to electricity by 2030 is at risk unless financing is rapidly mobilised and regulatory reforms are implemented without delay.
Executives from African companies operating in the electricity mini-grid sector sounded the alarm over the potential failure of the Mission 300 initiative, cautioning that the ambitious target cannot be met under current conditions.
Their concerns were outlined in a position paper released earlier this week.
Mission 300, spearheaded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, aims in particular for mini-grids to provide electricity to more than 115 million people across Africa by the end of the decade.
However, industry players say the timeline has become increasingly tight, with less than five years remaining to deliver nearly 23 million new connections.
“Mission 300 is an execution test. The sector is ready to scale up but what is now needed is a clear and rapid plan to mobilise capital and put in place regulatory frameworks that can keep pace with the level of ambition,” Africa Mini-grid Developers Association chief executive Olamide Niyi-Afuye warned in a note received Tuesday by APA.
According to the sector’s estimates, delivering Mission 300 would require between $28 billion and $46 billion in investment, including more than $10 billion in equity financing by 2028.
This would also require improved access to local-currency debt and tariff structures that reflect the true cost of electricity generation and distribution.
Without these measures, industry leaders caution that the current incremental approach will fall short of addressing the scale of Africa’s energy deficit, at a time when more than 600 million people across the continent still lack access to electricity.
ARD/Sf/lb/jn/APA