ACWA Power, AfDB Sign $5 Billion Framework for African Energy and Water Projects
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Dubai-based ACWA Power has entered into a framework agreement with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to identify, develop, and finance energy and water projects across Africa, the two parties said on Tuesday. The partnership aims to mobilize up to $5 billion in project financing by 2030, strengthening efforts to expand electricity and clean water access across the continent.
Under the deal, ACWA Power and the AfDB will collaborate on renewable power generation, desalination plants, and grid-connected infrastructure, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. The framework sets out terms for joint project development and financing mechanisms designed to scale sustainable infrastructure investment in regions where energy access remains among the lowest globally.
The initiative supports Mission 300, a programme jointly led by the AfDB and World Bank Group, which seeks to connect 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030. The agreement comes as multilateral development banks move to increase private sector participation in financing Africa’s energy transition and close a persistent funding shortfall in grid expansion.
Despite growing investor interest, Africa’s energy financing gap remains substantial. The International Energy Agency projects that achieving universal access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2035 would require cumulative investment of about $150 billion—roughly $15 billion annually, or six times the region’s current spending levels. Around 600 million people, or nearly 47% of the region’s population, were still without electricity in 2024, according to the agency.
Development lenders and private developers such as ACWA Power view joint frameworks as essential to unlocking project capital, yet the success of such partnerships will hinge on whether pledged commitments translate into fully funded and implemented projects within one of the world’s most capital-constrained energy markets.
