Obama Signs Electrify Africa Act Into Law

President Obama signed the Electrify Africa Act into law this week, nearly two years after it was first introduced to Congress. The bill, which partners with both public and private actors, intends to bring power to 50 million people on the African continent by 2020. Although about $50 billion will be invested through the program to electrify the continent, an estimated $835 billion is needed to provide access to all Africans.  

The massive gap between supply and demand for electricity in Africa has been one of the biggest hindrances to tapping into the continent’s economic potential. Over 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. Often times businesses are forced to use inefficient and expensive generators to support their needs, and individuals often rely on toxic coal which is responsible for many diseases.

The bill stipulates that the money will be invested in a mix of sources, including renewable energy, across the continent to stabilize a patchy power grid that currently counts only seven countries that are able to supply more than half their population with electricity.

 $31 billion of the $50 billion pledged to the project come from private sector partners, with the remaining $19 billion originating from a variety of public sector institutions such as the World Bank and the governments of Sweden and the European Union.

Nigerian businessman and major investor in electricity projects Tony Elumelu lauded the bill as “a landmark decision which will help to transform the lives of millions of Africans who cannot afford to wait for power.”

Expectations for the new program are high, especially given issues with the Obama administration’s Power Africa initiative. The $7 billion project launched in 2013 and coordinated by USAID intended to double electricity generation on the continent in five years. So far, no projects have actually come into fruition, although officials claim that many are still in the pipeline. A major obstacle has been the fact that the multiple agencies participating often conflict with each other due to competing interests and differing constituencies.

Initiatives such as Power Africa are ambitious but often become in danger of failing in implementation. Even if sufficient power infrastructure is built, citizens may become discouraged from connecting to the grid if electricity prices are too high or there insufficient maintenance of facilities.

With the passage of the Electrify Africa Act, an additional $43 billion will become leveraged via the participation of private and public actors, expanding Power Africa’s resources. Additionally, the law officially makes electricity generation in Africa a fixed part of US governmental policy, rather than simply an act of the Obama administration. As a result, this initiative becomes more prioritized and long-term in scope, incentivizing all future administrations to follow through on its goals. Overall approval of the bill offers promise that President Obama can follow through on his pledge to electrify the continent. It will be up to the responsibility of the next administration to follow through on this ambitious goal by engaging private actors as well as African states themselves.