Programme > Energy access and transitions

Expanding reliable, affordable and clean energy access

The endowment is extraordinary; building the infrastructure to unlock it is the opportunity. 

The vision

Energy as a foundation, not a constraint: universal access for people and enterprises, delivered through affordable and reliable systems that are powered by Africa's renewable resources and governed by capacitated institutions. In such a system, energy becomes a catalyst for resilience, industrial competitiveness, economic sovereignty and the electrification of productive and transport systems in a rapidly decarbonising world. 

The challenge

Africa makes up 17% of the world’s population
Africa has 60% of the world’s solar resources

The energy deficit is not only an inconvenience. For households relying on biomass fuels, it is also a daily health risk. For clinics unable to refrigerate medicines, it is a public health failure too. For firms unable to run machinery reliably, it is also a constraint on growth, investment and employment.

Off-grid and mini-grid solutions extend reliable access beyond traditional grid expansion – in many contexts allowing countries to bypass costly legacy infrastructure entirely. Decentralised models are already proving viable across the continent; the challenge is building the conditions for them to scale.

Energy access is the foundation, but it is not the ceiling. A just and durable transition must also drive economic competitiveness, industrialisation and the electrification of transport and key economic sectors; and as climate policy tightens globally, affordable, climate-aligned energy is not simply desirable. It is economically imperative.

The enabling conditions that African actors need to expand clean energy access sustainably and at scale are held back by structural, mutually reinforcing barriers. Weak policy frameworks constrain finance, shallow financing markets limit investment and gaps in institutional capacity slow implementation.

Read our snapshot

Our role

The ACF supports and reinforces the momentum that African actors are already generating. We do not seek to lead it. Our objective is for ambition to translate into implementation and for national transition plans to translate into real investment.  

  • We work to accelerate clean energy transitions in fossil fuel-dependent economies by strengthening policy coherence, transition planning and institutional readiness.  
  • We expand distributed renewable systems that deliver reliable energy access for people and power productive use across agriculture, services, local industry and emerging electric mobility systems. 
  • We strengthen the institutional capacity needed for integrated energy planning, modelling and regulatory design, ensuring credible and financeable transition pathways aligned with long-term system electrification. This includes AI-enabled planning and modelling tools that improve the accuracy, speed and accessibility of energy system forecasting and investment decision-making.  
  • We work to unlock renewable investment for energy generation, grid readiness, storage and enabling infrastructure, improving project preparation and aligning public and private capital around shared priorities. 
  • Throughout all of this, equity is not an afterthought. We embed social protection and local ownership into transition frameworks, ensuring that energy and electrification pathways are just, inclusive and politically durable. This includes supporting community-led energy initiatives and locally governed distribution models that place ownership and decision-making in the hands of the people they serve. 

Our impact: New Economy Hub

South Africa's energy transition has policy frameworks in place. What it has lacked is a locally grounded vision of what comes next for those whose livelihoods are tied to coal. The ACF incubated the New Economy Hub to fill that gap. We provided its institutional infrastructure through fiscal hosting and governance support, then stepped back, giving the Hub genuine autonomy over its direction and partnerships. In two years, the Hub reached nearly five million people through public information efforts and helped shift public debate. The transition conversation in South Africa now includes the people it is supposed to serve.