Friday 8 March 2019

African energy gets £30 million UK aid boost

The UK Government has announced £30 million of new funding for African energy.

The Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, said the finance would give people and companies across Africa improved access to affordable, clean energy.

Currently, around 60% of Africa businesses say access to reliable power is a constraint on their growth and approximately 600 million people across the continent have no access to electricity or safe fuels.

The money will be spent on technology to develop new types of batteries and other clean energy sources, which will also benefit the UK, as well as ensuring that electrical waste does not pollute the environment.

It will also help scale up the Transforming Energy Access programme, which has already helped to cut two million tonnes of carbon emissions while connecting people to the grid and will provide further funding to the Energy Catalyst Challenge fund for start-ups to develop new renewable technologies, such as solar and bioenergy.

An additional £21 million from the £65 million Africa Clean Energy (ACE) programme will be spent supporting and developing green mini-grids.

Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, said: “Transforming Energy Access is using the UK’s expertise in technology and finance to provide power for people across Africa and tackle one of the world’s biggest challenges, climate change.

“The UK Government’s investment in clean energy and waste reduction for people and businesses will help millions of people across Africa. It’s a win for the developing world and a win for the UK.”