The annual Africa Energy Indaba 2019 will cover a wide range of topics pertinent to Africa’s energy industry. The Africa Power Vision is amongst these topics and will be conveyed through a comprehensive discussion led by industry experts, investors, policy makers and government representatives. 

Africa Power Vision, APV, is an all-encompassing vision that is coherent with the Africa 2063 Agenda. The APV is founded on the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and targeted African energy projects that are deemed a priority.

The package was cooperatively developed by the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), the Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). APV conveys a long-term strategy making reliable and affordable energy accessible through coherently expending Africa’s diverse energy resources.

The package will focus on driving the execution of key energy projects in Africa through the AU Technical Body and NPCA, aiming to realise an 80% residential electrification rate by 2040 and 90% for industry/business. This will ensure adequate energy to deliver to those connected, subsequently employing off-grid solutions and making full use of the extensive renewable energy resources that Africa has to offer.

Furthermore, it requires increased regional integration to efficiently improve energy delivery in addition to targeting the usage of more effective, cleaner energy sources consistent with international standards. The APV highlights the crucial function of institutional capacity development and technical skills development to safeguard the development, execution and sustainability of essential energy projects.

The vision is based on five pillars namely; (i) leveraging domestic resources, (ii) driving GDP growth with electrification, (iii) scale-up of power through regional integration, (iv) running power assets efficiently and (v) mobilising all available resources.

The NEPAD Agency, responsible for implementing APV, requests the support from African countries and development partners, such as the United States, the European Union and other bilateral/multilateral partners to advance energy development on the African continent. This is especially pertinent given that the subject of energy is fundamental to the developmental constraints in Africa. 

The APV will be featured in the official opening African Ministerial panel, forming an integral component of the Indaba Conference. This discussion will unpack the contents of APV and demonstrate how businesses can drive regional integration to not only improve execution of PIDA and targeted priority energy projects in Africa but provide a continental vision and framework under which additional energy projects can be coherently developed so that businesses can achieve Africa’s targeted goals of greater energy accessibility.  

The Africa Energy Indaba remains Africa’s most prestigious energy event. The conference has demonstrated invaluable initiatives in fostering significant business liaisons, forging gateways for stakeholders into new markets and exploring challenges and opportunities to promote innovation in energy operations.

All these factors pave the way for creating employment opportunities as well as accelerating economic growth on the African continent.