THE ROADMAP

MEASURING
PROGRESS
Our monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework
measures progress and outcomes, identifies
challenges, and shares lessons-learned to improve
implementation. Power Africa’s full range of partners
regularly contributes data and analysis. See Appendix
5 for a summary of Power Africa’s M&E indicators
and our website for more details. In addition to
projects supported directly by the U.S. Government,
we also include most power sector projects that our
development partners support, in consultation with
these partners.
PROGRESS TOWARD
GENERATION GOALS
To be considered a Power Africa
project and to be counted toward
our MW goal, a transaction must have
substantive involvement from one
of Power Africa’s U.S. Government
agencies, development partners, or
private sector partners. For partner
transactions, the U.S. Government
and the partner must agree to the
transaction’s classification as a Power
Africa project. Transactions must meet
a set of criteria related to improving
the availability, access, or reliability
of electric power; be technically and
financially sound; align with local
government priorities; and meet best
practices for environmental and social
safeguards, among others.
Many of the deals that we support have been in
progress since before Power Africa’s launch, reflecting
the reality of long project lead-times (see Exhibit 9).
Typically, projects receive support from multiple
public and private sector stakeholders at various
points in their development, as well. As such, Power
Africa is often not the lead developer or sponsor of
these projects nor always engaged in every stage of
the project; instead, we work with the various project
stakeholders to identify and resolve barriers in order
to accelerate progress.
We consider financial close to be the best milestone
to measure progress towards our generation goals.
Projects often face their greatest challenges before
reaching financial close. To reach financial close,
a project must finalize all agreements with host
governments, secure finance from investors, and
receive the first flow of money. We continue to
monitor and support deals as they progress through
construction and become operational with late-stage
transaction assistance. Ultimately, our impact over
time will be measured when projects come online.
Power Africa counts MW from new grid-connected
and micro-grid generation projects, installed offgrid
systems (including solar home systems) from
companies, and additional MW generated above
a historical baseline that result from power plant
utilization improvements supported by Power Africa.
This includes increased generation resulting from
utility privatization transactions.
Transmission infrastructure is a critical enabler for
new generation. Therefore, Power Africa also counts
any additional generation capacity unlocked through
the construction or improvement of transmission
infrastructure. Several countries have stranded
generation capacity — meaning their plants can
generate power, but cannot transmit all of it as a
result of challenges in transmission infrastructure.
Consequently, these plants operate below capacity,
despite sufficient end-user demand domestically or in
neighboring countries. If Power Africa interventions can
revive stranded or underutilized capacity, we count
these MW toward our generation goal.
PROGRESS TOWARD
CONNECTIONS GOALS
Power Africa tracks new connections in two ways:
direct and inferred connections. Direct connections
reflect the actual number of new households and
20 — INTRODUCTION