South Africa - Largest wind infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide partial solution to South Africa’s energy crisis

The President of the French Republic made an official visit to South Africa on 28 and 29 February. The visit provided the opportunity to sign several agreements between Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and its partners including:

A 100 million euro financial agreement with ESKOM, South Africa’s national electricity utility, for the construction of a 100 MW wind farm on Cape West Coast. The farm will be the biggest wind infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa and will provide a partial solution to South Africa’s energy crisis. It will also reduce annual CO2 emissions by 250 000 tons.
A partnership agreement with DBSA, the South-African public development bank, for vocational training across the continent. Every year 100 African executives will be trained in development project design and management via the creation of a Master’s program.
Both agreements are operational examples of the quality partnership enjoyed between AFD and South Africa for sustainable development in Africa.

AFD is France’s main operator for official development assistance and has been operating in South Africa since 1994. At year-end 2007 AFD’s total aid amounts stood at 807 million euros, mainly in the form of concessional loans. The principal target for AFD interventions is to support South African authorities for the economic and social catch-up of populations which were victims of apartheid.