By Chuks Oyema-Aziken (Baku, Azerbaijan)
The Chief Executive Officer, Interface Africa, Al-Amin Idris – CEO, Interface Africa has challenged policy makers to provide affordable energy for the continent.
He made the call on Thursday at a side event at the Nigerian Pavilion at the ongoing COP29 In Baku Azerbaijan.
The event had as theme “Using Data to Unlock Access to Clean Energy Financing in Last-Mile Markets.
He said there is need to make clean energy cheaper.
“When you look at the numbers across the world, the cost of energy production is higher than Europe, higher than North America, because primarily we do that through fossil power generators. If other countries are producing at about 0.10 cents, for example, we produce at about 40 cents per kilowatt hour. So it’s quite high. It’s not sustainable for any business.
“It’s not sustainable for homes. And that has really affected our children. That’s from their health to their education, studying at night, access to the safety of the environment in general. So now we are no longer coming from the sustainability angle of saying it’s safer and cleaner for the environment and healthier.
He said financing for clean energy solutions in these underserved areas remains limited.
“Many communities are excluded from traditional financing channels due to a lack of data on customer needs, payment behaviors, and energy consumption patterns. This gap hinders scalable clean energy adoption and leaves millions of households and small businesses dependent on costly, polluting energy sources.
Discussion at the side event centred on how data can be a powerful tool in unlocking access to clean energy financing for last-mile communities.
Also discussed was how data-driven approaches, like those Offered by Interface Energy Ltd., provide critical insights into market behaviors, enable Effective credit assessments, and help de-risk investments in off-grid energy projects.
