TUE, 24 NOV, 2020-theGBJournal-Africa Oil & Power has launched its Africa Energy Series: Africa Energy Finance 2020 special report, in a bid to help eliminate barriers to private sector participation and highlight key investment opportunities in power generation and infrastructure development.
As Africa’s energy investment needs total approximately $300-$400 billion within the next decade, the report identifies a mix of public and private financing solutions that can catalyze institutional investment, with a view to bridging the financing gap and offsetting limited governmental capacity to fund large-scale projects in light of COVID-19.
The report serves as a tool for investors and African policymakers alike to identify financial, regulatory and capacity constraints to private investment, and provides proven strategies toward mitigating associated risk.
Successful case studies include the establishment of independent power producers in Kenya, the use of competitive auction in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement program, and the mobilization of multilateral lenders to back gas megaprojects like the Mozambique LNG Area 1 development, supported by an opinion piece from Nj Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.
Ayuk writes: ‘’While there is little we can do to influence oil prices, there are tangible steps that African countries can, and should, be taking to increase the chances of much-needed investment dollars going into their energy projects. These include working toward increased government transparency, passing legislation that protects the sanctity of contracts, and implementing more competitive fiscal regimes. We need to be working on these measures now. This is how we will make a lasting difference in Africa. This is how we will empower people to develop the necessary skills.’’
The report also identified opportunity for financing power generation in the continent’s sub-regions, highlighting some key projects by private sector companies which have recently attracted significant equity investment and asset financing solutions including the West Africa Gas Pipeline (Cost of Investment: $1 billion: Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana), the ($4.1 billion) Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project (Chad, Cameroon), Dangote Refinery ($15 billion-Nigeria), the ($20 billion) Morocco/Nigeria Gas Pipeline Project (Morocco, Nigeria) and the ($350 million) Tema LNG Terminal (Ghana).
Meanwhile, dedicated exclusively to tackling issues of finance for a new decade of intra-African trade and investment, AOP will host the first-ever Energy Finance Forum, as part of the fifth edition of its flagship Africa Oil & Power conference and exhibition on October 5-7, 2021, in Cape Town.
Aligned with the vision of South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and continental partners, the forum will offer a close-up on the continent’s investment environment post-COVID-19 and competitiveness on the global energy stage, under the theme “Invest Without Boundaries.”
Twitter-@theGBJournal|email: info@govandbusinessjournal.com.ng
