Africa is continuing its energy transition by focusing on decentralised solutions that accelerate the electrification of rural areas. In support of this process, the African Development Bank (AfDB) wants to encourage innovation in the energy sector. This is why the Pan-African bank has joined forces with EnergyNet to launch the “African Infrastructure of Tomorrow” competition. The competition is organised within the framework of the African Energy Forum (AEF), which is being held online this year from October 20th, to November 13th, due to the health crisis caused by Covid-19.
“The competition aims to inspire the formation of innovative teams and ideas to transform today’s public services into a cutting-edge, futuristic, smart, lively and renewable public network. The general principle is to create a platform for current asset owners to come up with innovative, realistic, practical and achievable ideas to replace existing public services one by one in the future,” explains EnergyNet, the organiser of AEF 2020.
Registration for the competition started on October 8th, and will close on November 6th, 2020. The competition is based on the pillars of the AfDB’s Renewable Utilities Transformation (RUT) programme, including good governance of the energy sector, integrated least-cost resource planning, human capital development, sector reforms and financial sustainability, as well as smart partnerships and performance monitoring.
The Award
“Team applications will remain anonymous, and the use of a team name is strongly recommended. The aim is to solicit realistic and practical ideas about current African public services. Only teams representing current owners of distribution assets will be allowed to submit applications. These owners can be from both the public and private sector, and can be working on a national grid, off-grid or in the mini-grid segment,” says EnergyNet.
Following the publication of the list of finalists on November 11th, the winning team will be announced on November 13th, 2020, the closing day of the FEA. The AfDB is entering the “African Infrastructure of Tomorrow” competition as part of the second wave of power sector reforms, the main objective of which is to open up the sector to foreign financial flows. The winner of the competition will win a US$5,000 prize.
For more information on the competition, click here.
Jean Marie Takouleu