ILLUMITRICITY

100 Million People in Eastern and Southern Africa Poised to Receive Access to Sustainable and Clean Energy by 2030, a project of The World Bank Guermazi, World Bank Director of Regional Integration for Africa and the Middle East. The second pillar will contribute to expanding grid electrification through investment and technical assistance on grid densification and expansion; grid connections, reinforcement and upgrading; and variable renewable energy (VRE) integration investments. It will also strengthen energy utilities, including building capacity of management and monitoring systems, increasing digitization, revenue protection programs, and other improvements needed to deliver fast-paced electrification. The third pillar will finance investments in scaling distributed renewables (DREs) and clean cooking to expand energy access for households, enterprises, farmers, schools, health clinics, and other institutions, including through financial intermediary financing. The program will start in four countries (Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Tanzania) and will expand to up to 20 countries in the region over the next seven years. These four countries were selected as ASCENT champions, representative of the energy access stages and contexts found in the region, thereby providing both inspiration and lessons for countries facing similar conditions. *The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 74 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has provided $458 billion to 114 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $29 billion over the last three years (FY19-FY21), with about 70 percent going to Africa. Learn more online: IDA.worldbank.org. #IDAworks

world's largest single-site solar farm The United Arab Emirates has launched the Al Dhafra solar farm – now the world’s largest single-site solar farm – ahead of COP28. The 2-gigawatt (GW) solar farm is 22 miles (35 km) from Abu Dhabi and features almost 4 million bifacial solar panels. It will power nearly 200,000 homes and eliminate over 2.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. It created 4,500 jobs during the peak of the construction phase, and the solar panels were installed at an average rate of 10 megawatts (MW) a day during construction. Al Dhafra was jointly developed by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), French power company EDF Renewables, and Chinese solar developer JinkoPower. TAQA owns 40% of the project, and Masdar, EDF Renewables, and Jinko Power each own 20%. The solar farm will supply power to Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) following a 2020 power purchase agreement. Now that Al Dhafra is online, the UAE’s solar power production capacity has increased to 3.2 GW. In September, EWEC called for proposals to develop a 1.5 GW solar farm in Al Khazna near Abu Dhabi. UAE is aiming to triple its renewable energy capacity to 14 GW by 2030.