Germany to boost green energy in Africa - but will it work?
With Africa’s energy demand on the rise, the German government is launching a new initiative aimed at helping citizens in African countries produce their own - by forming German-style energy cooperatives.
"If there is no energy, there is no development - and if there is no development, there are no jobs," German Development Minister Gerd Müller told a meeting of the German Cooperative and Raffeisen Confederation (DGRV) this week.
But in sub-Saharan Africa, more than two-thirds of the population has no access to electricity, according to data from the World Bank. Now, Germany is aiming to change that with an initiative set to boost citizen-led renewable energy projects across the continent.
The initiative is part of the German government's "Marshall Plan" for Africa - a new cooperation and development strategy unveiled earlier this year.
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