The Development Challenge
Access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy is key to unlocking Africa's socio-economic transformation. This is the focus of Mission 300, an ambitious effort between the World Bank and the African Development Bank, amongst other partners, to connect 300 million people to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. With electricity comes new opportunities for jobs, trade, and investment, as well as better schools, hospitals, and other essential services. Lives change. In 2020, only 52 percent of the population in Western and Central Africa had access to electricity services., Reaching those without access, including over 220 million people in Western Africa, requires overcoming challenges related to geography, high electricity costs, weak institutional capacity, and political instability.
The Project
Since it was approved in 2015, the Gambia River Organization for Development (OMVG) Interconnection Project has worked to enable electricity trade among four countries: The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal. Project goals include enhancing regional integration and energy security, improving cost efficiencies and the use of renewable energy, and expanding economic development and rural electrification. With $200 million in financing from the World Bank and over $500 million from co-financiers, the OMVG Interconnection Project brings together the four participating countries, five multilateral development banks—the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the West African Development Bank (WADB), and the World Bank—and three bilateral agencies—Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).
Results and Impact
OMVG is an example of what can be achieved through focus on energy access, such as through the Mission 300. During the last decade, the project has achieved development impact at scale in the energy sector. It has helped establish a comprehensive regional transmission network and facilitated the development of large hydropower generation projects, as well as utility-scale solar power plants to support the deployment and trade of affordable, clean energy.
The project has laid the foundation for a regional electricity industry and a dynamic regional electricity market through the progressive integration of isolated national power grids into a unified system. This includes erecting a 1,600-kilometer transmission line ingeniously designed in a loop that interconnects The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal. The loop also features 15 substations to distribute electricity and fiber optic cables to improve operations and public communication.
This network not only enhances regional energy integration and cooperation, but it also completes the regional West African Power Pool grid with interconnections across 14 member countries. All four OMVG countries now have access to additional supply options, including lower cost energy from Guinea and Senegal. The OMVG interconnection has improved service reliability for more than 2.5 million households and businesses in the region, and enabled Guinea Bissau to transition overnight from power generation based solely on expensive and polluting heavy fuel oil to 100 percent hydropower.
Set to close in June 2025, the OMVG Interconnection Project has also focused on compensation for affected communities, revenue-generating activities, and the implementation of a Biodiversity Management Plan, which ensured the transmission line was rerouted in vulnerable areas to safeguard heritage sites and preserve biodiversity. These efforts have helped to further enhance project contributions to the socio-economic development and environmental sustainability of the region.
Role of Co-financing
A project of this magnitude, with far-reaching regional implications, has demanded cooperation and coordination to mobilize needed expertise and financing. Eight co-financiers have come together to pool resources exceeding $700 million, thus enabling the construction of the transmission line and 15 substations; as well as the provision of technical assistance for project management, project supervision, and future operations related to the fiber optic cables, the line and associated facilities.
Each co-financier comes to the OMVG Interconnection Project with rich regional experiences, specific and complementary financial instruments, and diversified advisory services that have encompassed all stages of the project cycle. Co-financing has enhanced the project’s viability, fostered shared responsibility, spread the financial risks, and brought together diverse expertise from partner organizations. It shows that strong coordination around a shared vision can achieve development objectives and maximize impact on communities.
