OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2015. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is hosting a High Level Stakeholder Consultative Meeting on the theme “Towards a New Deal on Energy for Africa”, at the Bank’s Abidjan headquarters, on September 17-18, 2015, to review the Bank’s energy activities and chart the way for a transformative partnership on energy for Africa.

The event will bring together leaders in the energy sector to craft next steps towards a Transformative Partnership on Energy for Africa to provide a major platform for structured private sector, multilateral and bilateral partnerships and financing to solve Africa’s energy challenge.

The Meeting will also articulate implementation actions to inform the New Deal on Energy for Africa and identify opportunities for scaling up renewable energy on the continent.

The AfDB has an active role in Africa’s energy systems with a portfolio of around USD 10 billion, and investment in energy sector projects (public and private) in recent years exceeded, on average, USD 1 billion annually. These investments are geographically diversified across the continent in Southern Africa, North Africa, East Africa, and West Africa, representing a mix of generation, regional interconnections, and distribution projects. In addition, the Bank plays a leadership role in energy on the continent as host of the Secretariat to the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG), host of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Africa Hub, and architect of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).

The Bank is committed to unlocking Africa’s enormous energy potential, and powering and lighting up the continent. “Africa is blessed with limitless potential for solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal energy resources,” AfDB President Akinwuma Adesina said in his inaugural address. “We must unlock Africa’s energy potential – both conventional and renewable. Unlocking the huge energy potential of Africa, for Africa, will be a major focus of the Bank.”