• Consulting and Engineering Firm ›
• About ›
• Our Projects ›
• Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Pr...

In 2014, USAID selected Tetra Tech to lead the Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Program (PATRP), a five-year contract to provide broad technical, logistical, and administrative support to implement and promote Power Africa. Power Africa, a U.S. Government-led partnership coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is addressing the power supply challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 600 million people lack access to electricity. This critical development challenge slows economic growth in an otherwise dynamic region, and limits health care, education, and other opportunities for roughly two-thirds of a continent.

Power Africa convenes the collective resources of more than 170 public and private sector partners to double the access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Power Africa’s ambitious goal is to add more than 30,000 megawatts (MW) of new electricity generation capacity and connect 60 million new homes and businesses to a reliable power supply by 2030.

Tetra Tech managed PATRP’s complex and extensive resource infrastructure, which included nearly 100 power sector professionals engaged in activities across more than 20 countries. The PATRP team advanced power generation projects, unlocked transmission capacity, instituted energy sector reforms, executed utility commercialization programs, and provided institutional support to the Power Africa Coordinator’s Office.

Under Tetra Tech’s leadership, PATRP also focused on reducing the barriers for off-grid and small-scale renewable energy activities, namely project development and access to financing. These objectives supported Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid sub-initiative, which focuses on fostering clean and hybrid energy solutions for rural and peri-urban areas that may never be connected to a national electricity grid.

In a little more than five years, the Tetra Tech-led team achieved significant results for Power Africa, and for the people and communities of sub-Saharan Africa:

• Facilitated the financial close of 5,263 MW of power generation projects, of which 1,487 MW have been commissioned and are providing critical electricity supply across the continent
• Delivered more than 1.7 million new on-grid and off-grid electricity connections for homes and businesses
• Developed a pipeline of more than 250 active Power Africa transactions at various stages of development, representing nearly 33,000 MW of potential generation capacity
• Created the web-based Power Africa Tracking Tool that allows Power Africa and its stakeholders to monitor transactions as they progress toward financial close and commercial operation
• Increased revenue collection by more than $160 million through commercialization and reforms programs at four electricity distribution companies in Nigeria
• Bolstered transmission networks by bringing 2,153 kilometers of power line projects to financial close
• Trained 6,417 people on technical, financial, commercial, regulatory, and gender equity topics
• Drafted 150 energy-related policies, of which 59 were implemented to improve business, institutional, and/or energy sector health

Tetra Tech’s work under PATRP helped secure Power Africa’s role as a key resource for African governments, the private sector, and donors to galvanize collaboration around priority electricity generation, transmission, and distribution transactions. In the process, PATRP helped governments drive systemic changes and fundamental reforms in the power sector that will facilitate even greater private sector involvement and investment over the long term.