The African Development Bank (AfDB) said that the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) committee has allocated $85 million to Nigerian to fund renewable energy projects. As Alternative Energy Africa reported yesterday, $250 million will be allocated throughout the continent under the Clean Technology Fund’s (CTF) umbrella with Ethiopia garnering $50 million. “It aims to promote private and public sector-led renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and mass-transit urban transport investments,” according to the AfDB.
It is surprising to find the CIF continuously delving out cash when it still has yet to receive the financing from the G8 and other developed nations as originally proposed in 2008. Alternative Energy Africa’s January/February issue featured an article discussing the CIF and its entry into African nations. In June 2011, Niger was promised $50 million after its Strategic Programs for Climate Resilience (SPCR) was endorsed (much like Ethiopia’s Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program for Low Income Countries program). The fund said that the tracking system would be updated once all SPCRs had been endorsed and additional information on investments became available. However, to date, there has been no news released regarding disbursement of funds.
In regards to the money promised to Nigeria, the CIF said on its website that the country had yet to formally adopt a renewable energy master plan that would provide policy framework that would encourage investments. The CIF said, “In the absence of an overall strategy, including a framework that addresses tariff issues, it is likely to be challenging for the government to meet [its renewable energy goals].”
It still remains questionable why the Fund continues to say it supports which projects it will financially support when it does not have enough financial support to make it a reality.
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