Global effort to fight Energy Poverty in Africa is launched at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town

from E Gov Monitor

Yesterday at the World Economic Forum on Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) agreed to join the World Economic Forum’s Energy Poverty Alliance as part of a drive to provide basic electricity to African citizens. Jay Naidoo, Chairman of the Board, and Paul Baloyi, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Development Bank of Southern Africa, have committed to host the Energy Poverty Action Management Unit (EPAMU) at their offices in Midrand.

The Energy Poverty Alliance is a private sector initiative that delivers business expertise and best practices to reduce energy poverty. The three initiating partners, British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (Canada), Eskom (South Africa) and Vattenfall (Sweden), have already committed to developing pilot projects in Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo, initially providing electricity to more than 70,000 people. “It is a key milestone for the World Economic Forum to have DBSA as a partner to the Alliance. This provides a good platform to link international business capability with local community needs, to develop a brand for electrification projects, and help develop financing mechanisms,” said Christoph Frei, Director of Energy at the World Economic Forum. He added that the Energy Poverty Alliance is an ideal vehicle to engage more companies in developing electricity infrastructure.

“EPAMU will be developed into a centre of excellence that will employ skills and expertise from some of the most committed energy companies in the world. By developing sustainable, replicable models to address the challenges of energy poverty, EPAMU will facilitate the creation of local capacity, empowered to manage energy service delivery, maintain infrastructure and identify opportunities for future expansions. The key element is local empowerment and local economic sustainability, i.e. that the power systems are operated and maintained without the need for subsidies or transfers from the outside,” said Steve J. Lennon, Managing Director, Resources and Strategy, Eskom, South Africa.

"The joint solution of using alternative sources of renewable energy, expanding the national and regional grids, and using innovative cost effective technologies will contribute to more individuals, industries and businesses gaining access to electricity; this is what EPA offers. And Eskom confidently supports EPAMU and its goals of increasing energy access in Africa," said Lennon.