Minigrid spotlight: Expanding synergies between telecoms and Africa’s electrification goals

Currently 600 million Africans lack access to electricity, with distributed generation solutions required to address the challenge. Often located in remote areas lacking developed grid infrastructure, towers have the potential to serve as anchors supporting minigrid development, yet to date there has been limited deployment.

• How big is the minigrid opportunity and what proportion of towers could be candidates to be minigrid anchors?
• What have been the barriers to rollout today and to what extend do tower owners see this as an opportunity to explore?
• How will initiatives such as the World Bank and African Development Bank’s plans to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030 open up new sources of funding and business models?
• How mature is the minigrid ecosystem across the African continent and who will be the key players?
• The development of “Free Zones”, engagement with Universal Service Funds and other policy related requirements to support minigrid development