Sweden has pledged $20 million to support the African Development Bank’s Desert to Power (D2P) initiative. This is one of the key outcomes of engagements between AfDB officials and partners at COP26.
The D2P seeks to address Africa’s chronic energy poverty by connecting more than 250 million people in the Sahel region to solar power tapped from the Sahara Desert.
When fully rolled out, the bank expects, D2P will make the Sahel the world’s largest solar production zone with up to 10 000 MW of solar generation capacity.
Several countries have also shown support for the initiative, which will cover 11 countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Chad.)
In October, the G5 Sahel Financing Facility received $150 million from the Green Climate Fund.
