World Bank working to address lack of investment in Africa’s renewable energy

The World Bank has unified efforts to address challenges hindering the growth of distributed renewable energy in Africa.

This is as it works to provide guarantees on the continent.

The guarantees will be used to address the lack of funding, due to Africa being considered high risk in terms of investment.

According to Nkem Onwuamaegbu, the Africa regional head for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, an arm of the World Bank, the bank is working to identify and address the challenges to better attract investment in the sector.

“We’re looking at how we can use guarantees and other tools to attract private sector investment in renewable energy projects. The entire World Bank Group is united in this effort,” says Onwuamaegbu.

Guarantees are designed to promote or regulate the inflow of foreign investments, provide protection and safeguard investments against political risk.

During the conference, one of the issues raised was the potential for technical assistance to yield positive outcomes.

“Technical assistance needs to occur to essentially enable this industry to scale up in a way that is sustainable,” says Onwuamaegbu.

The bank is conducting evaluations and focusing on tangible results, she adds.