By Andrew Herscowitz
Coordinator for President Barack Obama's Power Africa and Trade Africa initiatives

"Are you getting tired of hearing about Power Africa yet?" I asked an energy investor, a few weeks ago in Washington.

"Not at all," he responded. "You opened up Ethiopia! Our company is headed there next week to speak with the government about getting into the market."

Power Africa is focused in six select countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, and Ghana.

The U.S. government has worked with the Government of Ethiopia to enter into an agreement for its first-ever independent power plant. This groundbreaking opportunity for the private sector to enter the Ethiopian energy sector was not the work of one American government agency, but rather 12 different agencies and multiple partners, working together as one team as part of President Barack Obama's "Power Africa" initiative.

Power Africa's mission is certainly a challenging one: To double the amount of access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa.

To date, the U.S. government has committed $7 billion over five years toward increasing access to energy, and has leveraged more than $14 billion in private sector commitments. An extraordinary number, but dwarfed by the estimated $300 billion necessary for Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve universal access to electricity by the year 2030.

Power Africa takes a transaction-based approach-one in which the U.S. government works with private companies, the African Development Bank (AFDB), the World Bank, other development partners, and most importantly, the six partner governments to identify those obstacles that might prevent a particular energy transaction from coming online. Power Africa's on-the-ground Transaction Advisors identify these gaps and function as the eyes and ears for each particular transaction and trouble shoot issues until they are resolved.

The U.S. Department of Treasury has worked with the World Bank to help push key policy reforms to promote the solvency of a government utility. USAID worked with a partner government to devise a plan for getting to a cost-reflective tariff. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation helped convince its African counterpart to extend the term of a power purchasing agreement for renewable projects from 15 to 25 years to help developers attract financing. And, the AFDB may hire international legal counsel to guide a partner government in its negotiations of a private sector power deal. In fact, sometimes the solution might be as simple as asking the U.S. Ambassador call a host government counterpart to ensure that project documents are making it through the approval process in a timely manner.

These examples have all taken place within the past few months, and as a result, Power Africa already is making a major difference. Since its launch last summer, transactions totaling almost more than 2,500 MW of the 10,000 MW goal have reached financial close. A further 5,500 MW worth of transactions are in the planning stages.

It all comes down to having power-in every sense of the word. How can people move forward if they do not have the power to plan their day-not knowing when or whether there will be electricity? Parents cannot know if their children will be able to study at night. Farmers cannot know whether their equipment will have to run in the morning or the afternoon to improve their crop yields or to power their storage facilities. So, time is wasted sitting around and waiting.

Power Africa is focused in six select countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, and Ghana. Together, these countries comprise approximately 40 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa's population. Nearly 70 percent of people in urban areas lack access to electricity, and in rural areas that number jumps to approximately 85 percent.

In order for Power Africa to be successful, African governments and their citizens must be in control of their own energy destiny. And this is exactly what Power Africa is about. Our job is to work together to build this capacity. We want to hear more people tell us that that we've "helped open up" countries to investment. We want to work with our partner countries to ensure that their master energy plans pave a pathway toward a clean energy future. And, we want to know that we are creating more jobs in both Africa and the United States as a result.of the eight month old Presidential initiative.

In Ethiopia, we are working to ensure that the privatization of energy generation will be successful so that we can help unleash the estimated 15,000 MW of geothermal power in East Africa on an expedited basis. Similarly in Liberia, we are looking at how the West African Power Pool and off-grid solutions may compliment the efforts to bring large hydropower project online and to reduce the cost of electricity. In Kenya and Nigeria, General Electric (GE) partnered with the United States African Development Fund (USADF) to fund an "Off Grid Challenge" designed to help increase the amount of electricity in rural areas. In late February, I had the honor of joining my USADF colleagues and GE partners on a site visit to one of Nairobi's urban settlements where one of the six challenge first round challenge winners is working to convert biomass into electricity which will in turn provide the necessary power for a school and the surround area.

In this inaugural Power Africa newsletter, we try to represent different aspects of our work across the continent. You will not see U.S. government agencies and private corporations working as individual entities, but rather working together as partners with African government counterparts.

The Power Africa model showcases the best tools and innovations that we can offer when working together. Make sure to follow the conversation on Twitter using #PowerAfrica or follow me for regular updates @aherscowitz. Let me know what you think can make a difference Share your thoughts on Twitter or submit a comment here.