A7: Financing rural electrification as essential infrastructure projects

Nearly six hundred million people  in Africa live without access to electricity. Despite the many benefits of electrification, only 30.7% of the rural population in Africa have access to electricity, compared to 81% of the urban population. (World Bank, 2022). A series of financial, technical, and regulatory challenges stand in the way of expanding electrification to rural areas. Africa needs to reimagine its electrification approach and pursue concerted efforts that integrate the grid, minigrid, and off-grid technologies, and finance them as essential infrastructure assets to achieve universal electricity access. Electrifying rural Africa needs a new model of financing that allows infrastructure capital to flow into the underlying assets. Successful rural electrification requires long-term, low-cost capital from the private sector, and regulatory and subsidy support from the public sector. It requires an unprecedented level of investment from governments and their development partners to unlock infrastructure capital from long-term holders of infrastructure assets. This session will explore the various ways of financing rural electrification as essential infrastructure assets. During the session, the MGP will present the key findings of the State of the Global Mini-Grids Market Report 2024.