The Energising Finance Report 2024 is an annual report by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) providing a comprehensive analysis of tracked finance commitments flowing towards energy access. A few key takeaways stand out.
Commitment imbalance. Between 2014 and 2022, countries in Asia — particularly India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan — received significantly more electricity access financing than Sub-Saharan Africa, despite many African countries facing urgent energy access challenges.
Case studies of success: Bangladesh & Kenya. Both countries show remarkable success in increasing electricity access — Bangladesh from 32% to 99.9%, and Kenya from 15% to 76.5%, over the past two decades. They achieved this through strong policy and regulatory frameworks, and increased financing for transmission and distribution networks.
Lessons for Africa. Governments should prioritise political will, as seen in Bangladesh and Kenya, and involve both the private sector and government in generation and distribution. Investment in T&D networks is critical. Development Finance Institutions, like Bangladesh's IDCOL, can play a pivotal role in accelerating off-grid solutions that African countries could replicate. Kenya's Feed-In-Tariffs and Bangladesh's regulatory focus on IPPs are strategies that could benefit other African nations like Nigeria.