African Development Bank to invest $3.5b in improving energy access in Africa

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has hinted that it intends to invest billions of dollars into Africa’s energy sector in the next three years.

According to a statement on its website on June 24, 2011, the bank said “Over the next three years, the AfDB intends to invest more than $3.5 billion in improving energy access.”

The Bank says more than a third of the amount will go to renewable energy.

The announcement was made by the AfDB’s Vice President, Bobby Pittman, at the just-ended 2011 Climate Investment Funds Partnership Forum hosted by the Bank in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mr. Pittman told over 250 participants at the forum that “Africans are leading with their own plans for climate change, and they have called for additional financing instruments that respond directly to their priorities.”

Nearly 600 million people in Africa remain without access to modern energy and about $1 billion is invested in renewable energy in Africa yearly, according to the International Energy Agency.

By Ekow Quandzie