A release from the international body reveals that a market for solar power in Africa is imminent.
The World Bank Group has announced its intention to increase the supply of energy for millions of residential and commercial consumers across the African continent.
A press release from the international body on February 12, 2015 announces the launch of Scaling Solar, a project to reduce the development time and uncertainty for bidders and investors, while lowering tariffs for utilities, which accordingly, benefit consumers.
African ministers, utility companies and the international power community met to discuss progress and initiatives to increase access to energy on the continent at a Powering Africa Summit in Washington DC. The initiative provides for governments to procure solar power competitively and enhance its provision to citizens.
Cognizant that Africa has some of the world's most abundant solar resources, yet more than a third of the population lives without electricity, the World Bank Group sees through this project, investors developing private solar projects across the continent.
Such projects existed, but the World Bank hold that they have often been negatively affected by a variety of obstacles such as high transaction costs, heavily negotiated agreements and high perceived risk and cost of capital.
This explains why the continent continues to struggle with slow, relatively expensive and ineffective solar development, which impedes access to electricity and thus, the sustainable development of the economies.
The release explains that Scaling Solar provides a straightforward package to help countries determine the size and location of projects, then auction them competitively to developers.
