The Enabling African Cities for Transformative Energy Access (ENACT), a new clean energy project within the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme will in 2021  issue a call to companies for proposals on delivering affordable market-led renewable energy solutions in slums and informal settlements in the two project cities: Kampala and Freetown.

 Started in July 2020, ENACT is a three-year project managed by the Carbon Trust and delivered by ICLEI Africa, with support from Energy 4 Impact. ENACT will work with local governments and private energy providers to create an enabling environment to provide decentralised, modern and clean energy to the urban poor residing in informal settlements in the project cities.

What is ENACT addressing?

According to demographic projections, Africa’s urban population will triple to 1.5 billion by 2050 with 84% of this explosive growth taking place in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 60% of urban dwellers live in slums or informal settlements with limited access to land, jobs, basic amenities, infrastructure and energy access. Energy poverty disproportionally affects low-income households who have no access to reliable, adequate and clean sources of energy for cooking, heating, lighting and mechanical power. Forced to rely on scarce, inefficient, unhealthy, and expensive energy sources, they are caught in a vicious circle of low productivity and poor health. As the African urban population continues to grow, local governments are faced with the heightened challenge of providing infrastructure and basic services. Without interventions to improve energy access, it is unlikely that African nations will achieve the universal access target laid out in the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG 7).

However, renewable energy offers a solution and public-private partnerships will be critical to address these challenges. The private sector can make a critical impact by both improving energy access in urban informal settlements and helping local governments achieve their energy access and low carbon targets.

How will access to modern energy be improved?

ENACT will work with local governments and private energy providers to create an enabling environment to provide decentralised, modern and clean energy to the urban poor residing in informal settlements in Kampala and Freetown.

Public-private partnerships will be critical to ensuring the success of ENACT. In 2021, ENACT will be issuing a call to companies for proposals on delivering affordable market-led renewable energy solutions in slums and informal settlements. Funding will be available for companies to pilot innovative business models that improve energy access and affordability for households and micro-enterprises living in informal settlements in the project cities. These solutions are expected to bolster access to quality and reliable electricity and clean cooking, and to foster productive uses of energy for livelihood enhancement.

Further information on the ENACT project and the call for proposals (once launched), can be found here.

enact_email_footer.png