Abstract for: Boosting electricity access in Africa with private sector financing

Electricity access in Africa is the lowest globally. This problem is predominant in the sub-Saharan region. A limited financial resource is widely referred to as the reason for the largely unmet electricity markets on the continent. The paper posits that increased private sector financing in power generation through open market and incentive policies offer realistic opportunity for universal energy access. A model, based on system dynamics modelling approach is constructed and used as a simulation tool to assess open market and incentive scheme policy implications on the share of private sector investment in power generation. The preliminary results indicate that private sector participation is crucial for improving electricity access. Further, while this is still work in progress, the results show that a liberalized power market and an incentivized private sector would significantly increase the electricity access rate in Africa and boost the chances of achieving universal electricity access by 2030. The way forward is to validate the model and undertake scenario analysis.