UAE clean energy company Masdar has signed a deal to deliver renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of up to 5GW to Angola, Uganda and Zambia.
The agreements were signed under the umbrella of the Etihad 7 initiative, a UAE-led initiative that aims to raise public and private-sector funds to invest in the development of Africa’s renewable energy sector.
The deals cover 2GW in Angola, 1GW in Uganda and 2GW in Zambia, involving solar, wind and hydropower.
“The UAE and African nations share a firm belief in the tremendous potential that clean energy offers Africa to unlock economic and climate action progress,” said UAE’s minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Shakhboot Nahyan Al Nahyan.
Masdar chairman Dr Sultan Al Jaber, who is also President Designate of COP28, which will be held in the Emirates later this year,said: “The UAE is committed to advancing sustainable development in the Global South – and especially in our brotherly nations in Africa.”
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He added that the “landmark agreements will be transformative to local communities and will help African nations to drive economic growth for their people while still meeting net-zero objectives”.
Uganda’s energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu said the 1GW planned for the country would “go a long way to contributing to the attainment of our universal access goals and our energy transition goals”.
Last August, Masdar also signed an agreement with TANESCO, the sole provider of electricity in Tanzania, to develop renewable energy projects with a total capacity of up to 2GW, also under the umbrella of the Etihad 7 program.
The two parties are in the process of finalizing the establishment of a joint venture company to advance the collaboration.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), less than half of the Sub-Saharan African population has access to electricity.
Africa also generates just 20& of its electricity from renewable sources, while according to a report by Masdar and McKinsey, the continent has a theoretical potential capacity of approximately 850TW of solar and wind.
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