Seventeen African governments have joined Malawi in committing to reforms and investment plans to expand electricity access under Mission 300, a World Bank and African Development Bank initiative that aims to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
The new commitments—announced on Tuesday at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum in New York—bring the number of countries with endorsed National Energy Compacts to 29. Malawi was among the early signatories earlier this year, pledging reforms and projects to scale up electricity supply.
In an e-mailed statement, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said the initiative is about more than just targets.
“Electricity is the bedrock of jobs, opportunity, and economic growth. That’s why Mission 300 is forging enduring reforms that slash costs, strengthen utilities, and draw in private investment,” he said in a statement.
African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah stressed the role of power in enterprise growth.
“Reliable, affordable power is the fastest multiplier for small and medium enterprises, agro-processing, digital work, and industrial value-addition. Give a young entrepreneur power, and you’ve given them a paycheck,” he said.
In Malawi, the government earlier this year secured its largest ever energy investment.
In May, the World Bank approved a $350 million grant for the Mpatamanga Hydropower Storage Project in Chikwawa, expected to double Malawi’s electricity generation capacity and connect more than one million households to the national grid by 2031.
Expected to double Malawi’s electricity generation capacity and connect more than one million households to the national grid by 2031, Mpatamanga is a flagship part of Malawi’s National Energy Compact under Mission 300. With a planned capacity of 350 megawatts, it represents nearly half of the country’s pledge to add 848 megawatts of new generation by 2030.
Announcing the project, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi Firas Raad said the project’s benefits will extend well beyond energy.
“The project could raise Malawi’s GDP growth by 1.2 percentage points annually—up to five percentage points if expansion in the mining sector is realised.
“It is projected to reduce national poverty from 51 percent to 25 percent by 2050, ten percentage points faster than in a scenario without the project,” he said.
The facility, to be implemented under a public-private partnership through Mpatamanga Hydropower Limited, will generate 1,544 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually and enable Malawi to export power to the Southern African Power Pool, earning an estimated $50 million in foreign exchange each year.
Despite these promising developments, Malawi still faces one of the world’s lowest electricity access rates—about 15 percent nationally, with rural access in single digits. Installed capacity stands at 554 megawatts, but aging hydro plants frequently malfunction and solar remains intermittent.
With demand estimated at 413 megawatts, energy experts have previously warned that sustained reforms, tariff adjustments, and governance improvements will be critical if the country is to deliver on its Mission 300 commitments and keep pace with regional peers.
