This month saw the launch of the “Policy Catalyst Effective Renewable Energy Tendering Window”, a new initiative to enhance renewable energy procurement in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme was jointly launched in a virtual seminar by the World Bank‘s ESMAP and its SRMI partnership, GET.transform, IRENA, and the Power Futures Lab. These implementation partners have designed a programme to support governments, utilities, and regulators in designing and executing competitive and transparent tenders for Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The seminar featured an overview of the programme and partners, discussions on Africa’s power investment and procurement trends, and delved into telling case studies.
The Policy Catalyst initiative addresses bottlenecks in renewable energy development by providing technical assistance, peer learning, and workshops to key African stakeholders. By creating robust tendering frameworks, the initiative seeks to foster private sector investment, help to attract international bidders, and ultimately accelerate Africa’s renewable energy transition. It draws on findings from comprehensive research into renewable energy auctions in Africa published by GET.transform, the Power Futures Lab and SRMI earlier this year.
Officials from twelve Sub-Saharan countries are set to participate in the 9-month training to expand and improve procurement practices: Botswana, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, The Gambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe. The next training will take place in October before an in-person workshop sees the participants convene in South Africa in November.
The collaboration among international energy experts and local policymakers through this platform will help identify best practices and tailor solutions to meet the unique needs of Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector.