EnergyNet has joined forces with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to launch the “African Infrastructure of Tomorrow” competition which will take place within the framework of the African Energy Forum (AEF), which is being held online from October 20th to November 13th, 2020.
EnergyNet said that the competition aims to inspire the formation of innovative teams and ideas to transform today’s public services into a cutting-edge, futuristic, smart, lively and renewable public network.
The general principle is to create a platform for current asset owners to come up with innovative, realistic, practical and achievable ideas to replace existing public services one by one in the future.
Application and award
It mainly concerns suppliers of clean energy in Africa. Registration for the competition started on October 8th, and will close on November 6th, 2020. The competition is based on the pillars of the AfDB’s Renewable Utilities Transformation (RUT) programme, including good governance of the energy sector, integrated least-cost resource planning, human capital development, sector reforms and financial sustainability, as well as smart partnerships and performance monitoring.
Team applications will remain anonymous, and the use of a team name is strongly recommended. The aim is to solicit realistic and practical ideas about current African public services.
Read: REPP extends its call for renewable energy projects
Only teams representing current owners of distribution assets will be allowed to submit applications. These owners can be from both the public and private sector, and can be working on a national grid, off-grid or in the mini-grid segment.
Following the publication of the list of finalists on November 11th, the winning team will be announced on November 13th, 2020, the closing day of the FEA. The AfDB will be entering the competition as part of the second wave of power sector reforms, the main objective of which is to open up the sector to foreign financial flows. The winner of the competition will win a Sh 543,000 prize.
