Africa Energy Indaba focuses on unlocking investment to close power gap
Platform brings governments, DFIs and private investors together to accelerate bankable energy projects across Africa
Africa Energy Indaba has placed investment mobilisation at the centre of efforts to address the continent’s persistent energy deficit, as more than 600 million people across Africa remain without access to reliable electricity.
Despite abundant natural resources and rapidly growing economies, Africa continues to face significant challenges in expanding power generation and modernising energy infrastructure. Constrained grids, aging assets, and limited access to affordable financing have slowed industrialisation, job creation and broader economic development.
Africa Energy Indaba, one of the continent’s established energy investment platforms, is positioning itself as a conduit between policy, capital, and projects.
The event convenes governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), commercial banks, private equity investors, project developers, engineering firms, and technology providers to focus on turning energy plans into investable opportunities.
According to industry estimates, Africa’s annual energy, and infrastructure funding gap amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. While global capital is available, investors often face obstacles such as regulatory uncertainty, currency risk, weak off-taker balance sheets, and insufficient project preparation.
The Indaba seeks to address these issues by facilitating direct engagement between policymakers, financiers, and project sponsors.
The programme is structured around investment readiness, featuring ministerial dialogues, investor roundtables, project presentations, and closed-door meetings. These sessions allow stakeholders to examine financing structures, blended finance solutions, guarantees and risk-sharing mechanisms required to advance projects from development to implementation.
Organisers say the event’s emphasis on practical outcomes differentiates it from traditional conferences. Governments use the platform to present national energy pipelines and outline regulatory reforms, while investors assess projects with defined development pathways and financing requirements.
Discussions at Africa Energy Indaba span the full energy value chain, including power generation, transmission and distribution, gas-to-power, renewable energy, energy storage, grid modernisation, and industrial power solutions.
This reflects the diversity of Africa’s energy needs and the range of technologies required to improve access, reliability, and affordability.
The event is co-located with Infrastructure Africa, recognising the interdependence between energy systems and wider infrastructure development, including transport, logistics, water, and digital networks. This integrated approach is intended to support more coordinated investment planning across sectors.
Beyond the event itself, Africa Energy Indaba continues to serve as an annual meeting point for Africa’s energy investment community, with projects and partnerships initiated at the platform often progressing in the months that follow.
As countries intensify efforts to expand electricity access and attract private capital, the role of platforms focused on bankability and execution is expected to grow.
