Power / Mission 300

Mission 300

CURRENT INITIATIVE

Overview

Connecting people and businesses to electricity changes lives. Electricity powers schools and hospitals, creates job opportunities, and fosters investments and trade.

Access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy is critical for powering Africa, transforming economies, and reaching people’s development aspirations.

Yet nearly 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity — nearly 83% of the world’s unelectrified population.

This is unjust. And it is counterproductive — not just to individual lives and livelihoods but to the prosperity and stability of entire communities and countries.

Mission 300 is an ambitious effort by The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank, with the support of partners like The Rockefeller Foundation, to connect 300 million people to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Mission 300 will accelerate the pace of electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa while ensuring that the transition to more diversified and cleaner sources of energy meets growing demand, brings economic growth, and creates jobs.

Why it Matters

  •  
    ~0MillionMillion

    people in Sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity

  •  
    ~0%%

    of the world’s unelectrified population

  •  
    0MillionMillion

    people could be connected to electricity by 2030 through this initiative

What Will It Take?

To succeed, Mission 300 needs partners from diverse sectors — governments, philanthropies, the private sector, and multilaterals — to come together in ways that allow us to work quickly and differently than ever before.

  • Governments are taking the lead on reforms that are critical to supply affordable, reliable energy to the 300 million new connections. As part of this effort, countries across Africa are currently working with the World Bank Group (WBG) and the African Development Bank to develop National Energy Compacts, in which they will outline critical reforms and actions to scale up electricity access and modernize their energy sector.
  • The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank are significantly increasing their support to the energy sector. The WBG seeks to double its annual energy financing through 2030 while the African Development Bank intends to deploy more financing through programs such as the transformative Desert to Power.
  • The private sector will play an essential role in Mission 300 in scaling up investment in distributed renewable energy, as well as grid-connected power generation and new models for private participation in transmission and distribution.
  • Donors, philanthropies and partners, such as the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), The Rockefeller Foundation, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), are helping to mobilize more public and private financing to reach our goal.

Learn more about how Nigeria is investing in innovative solutions to accelerate their renewable energy transition and provide a roadmap for the rest of the continent.

Impact Stories