Through Gigawatt Global Cooperative UA, the US has signed an agreement with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aiming to develop US$1bn renewable energy projects in Africa
Under the terms of the MoU agreement, Gigawatt Global will install 800MW of solar and wind farms in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Gambia. The project is set to start in early 2019.
As reported in the Construction Review Online, the USA supports the project through its Power Africa initiative that was set up in 2013 to bring together technical and legal experts, private sector governments from around the world to work in partnership to increase the number of people with access to power in Africa.
The programme was aimed at investing US$7bn for a period of five years to support Africa’s growing electricity demand.
The recent deal further indicates the USA government’s preferred agenda to help Africa in meeting its power needs, although President Donald Trump has cut aid budgets and criticised US’ hand in poverty alleviation programmes across the globe.
Yosef Abramowitz, CEO of Gigawatt Global, said to the source that with this new initiative, energy poverty can be eliminated in smaller or less developed ECOWAS states, creating a regional electricity economy.
The deal also follows the agreement between the US and Israel in 2017, where the two governments agreed to work together to boost electricity in Africa.
