We must find affordable energy for our people – CEO, Interface Africa

By Chuks Oyema-Aziken (Baku, Azerbaijan)

The Managing Director, Interface Africa, Al-Amin Idris – CEO, Interface Africa has challenged policy makers to deliver affordable energy to the continent.

He made the call on Thursday at a side event at the Nigerian pavilion at the ongoing COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan.

The theme of the event was “Using data to unlock access to clean energy financing in last mile markets.

He said there is a need to make clean energy cheaper.

“When you look at the numbers around the world, the cost of energy production is higher than Europe, higher than North America, because we do it primarily through fossil power generators. If other countries, for example, produce about 0.10 cents, we produce about 40 cents per kilowatt hour .So that’s pretty high.It’s not sustainable for any company.

“It’s not sustainable for homes. And it’s really affected our children. It’s from their health to their education, studying at night, access to the safety of the environment in general. So now we’re no longer coming from the sustainability angle to say it’s safer and cleaner for the environment and healthier.

He said funding 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 behavior and energy consumption patterns. This gap hinders scalable, clean energy adoption and leaves millions of households and small businesses dependent on expensive, polluting energy sources.

The discussion at the side event centered on how data can be a powerful tool to unlock access to clean energy finance for last mile communities.

It was also discussed how data-driven approaches, such as those offered by Interface Energy Ltd., provide critical insights into market behavior, enable effective credit assessments and help de-risk investments in off-grid energy projects.