Roughly 57 percent, or 600 million, of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to reliable and consistent power. USADF’s off-grid energy grants promote market-based solutions that connect people to electricity.
Over the past five-year period (2017-2021), we provided over US$11 million in grant funding to more than 100 African enterprises to bring renewable energy solutions to communities with limited or no connections to national power grids.
In 2023, USADF invested $6.68 million to support up to 38 off-grid energy projects in 14 countries across the continent, in line with commitments made at the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in December 2022.
USADF Off-Grid Energy Challenges
Under the U.S. government-led Power Africa initiative, we partner with the private sector to launch various off-grid energy challenges — including a USADF Women in Energy Challenge and a USADF Sahel-Horn of Africa Energy Challenge — to fund African entrepreneurs delivering energy solutions using solar, wind, hydro, and biogas technologies.
Through these Challenges, we award grants of up to US$250K to African enterprises that power local economic activities and demonstrate a sustainable, scalable business model. Challenge winners have near-term solutions to power the needs of productive and commercial activities, including agriculture production and processing, off-farm businesses, and commercial enterprises.
Source: USADF