WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) today reintroduced the Electrify Africa Act. With nearly 600 million Africans without electricity, this legislation, originally offered in the 113th Congress, will leverage public and private sector resources to extend electricity access throughout Africa, help 50 million Africans with first-time access to electricity, and add 20,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid by 2020.
"Increasing access to reliable energy is critical to Africa's economic growth and prosperity," Senator Coons said. “Ongoing, widespread power outages and an aging energy infrastructure are preventing greater economic progress in sub-Saharan Africa, limiting access to health services, and standing in the way of improvements in education in too many countries across the continent. This bipartisan bill would remove this binding constraint to growth by working with local communities to encourage public private partnerships to expand energy access to rural areas, develop new power sources, promote renewables and distributed energy solutions, and support improved energy sector governance. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important bill into law.”
“I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan approach for leveraging private capital to bring financially viable electric power to millions of people in Africa for the first time,” said Senator Corker. “When making choices about limited foreign aid dollars, our country should focus on efforts like energy where we can transform lives and create a foundation for economic growth through private sector investment.”
“Access to electricity remains one of the fundamental development challenges in Africa, with direct impacts on public health, education, and economic growth,” said Senator Cardin. “That’s why this bipartisan legislation draws upon American leadership and ingenuity to provide first-time electricity access to 50 million Africans by developing clean, affordable, and sustainable energy. By working with African governments to attract private sector investment and partnering with American firms that are on the cutting edge of the power solutions Africa seeks, we can make great strides in addressing African energy poverty and promote economic growth at home and abroad.”
The legislation includes the following components:
Requires the President to create a comprehensive strategy for United States’ engagement with sub-Saharan Africa in developing a broad mix of power solutions to increase electricity access and reliability.
Encourages the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), USAID, the U.S. Department of Treasury, World Bank, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and African Development Bank to prioritize loans, grants, and technical support that promote private investment in projects designed to increase electricity access and reliability.
Authorizes OPIC to continue ongoing work through 2018 and provides limited additional authorities specifically for use on power projects in sub-Saharan Africa. These authorities for sub-Saharan Africa power projects include:
Expedited procedures for small projects,
Promoting partnerships between U.S. joint ventures and African partners to develop responsible electricity generation,
Expanding lending for the purpose of encouraging investments in the power sector in Africa by U.S. investors,
Facilitating the development of African power projects through currency guarantees for qualifying local banks.
Creates a new inspector general for OPIC.
Improves transparency at OPIC by requiring OPIC to publish the development effects of the Corporation’s investments in an accessible format.
Requires the Comptroller General to submit to Congress a report on the effectiveness of OPIC’s efforts to promote investment in energy and infrastructure projects.