Trump ends US initiative to boost electricity access in Africa
A US initiative to increase electricity supply in Africa has been dismantled by the Trump administration after more than a decade of work, according to people familiar with the matter.
Almost all of Power Africa’s programs have been listed for termination and the majority of its staff fired, said the people who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Some remaining programs, particularly those aimed at connecting projects with US companies, may be retained under other US agencies, they said.
“Each program is undergoing a review with the goal of restructuring assistance to serve US interests,” a State Department spokesperson said in a reply to questions. “Programs that serve our nation’s interests will continue. However, programs that aren’t aligned with our national interest will not.”
Power Africa, which operated under the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was initiated under former President Barack Obama to add 30 gigawatts of cleaner electricity generation capacity and 60-million connections to homes and businesses. The end of the initiative that provided technical and legal expertise, as well as coordinating private sector and government interactions, may slow efforts to boost power generation in sub-Saharan Africa where almost half of the population of about 1.3-billion lacks access to electricity.
Soon after Donald Trump came to power, his administration accused USAID of wasting taxpayer money. He appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the agency’s acting administrator. He’s subsequently placed thousands of staff members on administrative leave.
Power Africa faced criticism early on because of slow progress. Subsequently, it would count as its contribution adding 14 300 MW of capacity reaching financial close, over 41-million new or improved connections to homes and businesses, along with advisers deployed in dozens of countries on the continent, according to a 2023 annual report.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation