By Goth Mohamed Goth
The Minister Minerals and Energy flanked by DG received officials from RTI, the company that is implementing the Power Africa project in our country on quality and knowledge of Somaliland energy, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The officials from RTI, who arrived in the country for the launch of the Somaliland Energy Services project, will be in the country for some time, providing training on the power supply to the country’s power companies.
At the reception for the RTI delegation, the Minister of Minerals and Energy was flanked by the DG at the Ministry, the head of the Energy department Mr. Liban Haji Mohamud Warfa and other officials.
Hon. Abdillahi Farah Abdi, Somaliland’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, and Mr. Richard Morison from RTI in Somaliland who are implementing the Power Africa project jointly announced at a press conference at the ministry’s headquarters that the project will be officially launched in the country previously agreed on agreements.
The Power Africa project is a program to promote energy integration and sharing among
African countries, especially in the Horn of Africa, and aims to enable regional countries to collaborate on energy resources.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded RTI International the Power Africa East Africa Energy Program to expand affordable and reliable electricity services in East Africa, with the ultimate goal of supporting development priorities, including inclusive economic growth, security, and improved health and education outcomes. This four-year, $65 million project will collaborate closely with the recently awarded Beyond the Grid task order to seek synergies between the two programs and advance Power Africa’s connection goals.
“Without access to reliable, affordable electricity services, a country’s journey to self-reliance is at risk,” explains Nicole Barnes, Vice President for Learning, Energy, and Environment for Development at RTI. “Our approach will support the region’s development priorities by improving the integration of the technical and human systems that permit the exchange of power will increase competition, drive down consumer tariffs, and improve regional reliability and access to energy.”
RTI will lead a consortium to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions that overcome the key constraints to power sector development across 10 countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Our partners are Tetra Tech, Fieldstone Africa, Norton Rose Fulbright, the Center for Climate Strategies, and Khulisa.
Under the East Africa Energy Program, RTI will work to optimize the region’s power supply, increase grid-based power connections, strengthen utilities, and increase the region’s power trade. We will deploy an adaptive management approach, consistent with USAID’s collaborating, learning and adapting (CLA) approach, to program design, implementation, and management. We will also build on our previous work to increase gender equity in the power sector by promoting women’s leadership, adopting a gender-balanced approach to training, and providing mentoring and coaching to female leaders across the region.
RTI’s work on this program builds on our decades of experience in the global energy sector offering expertise in the strategic, technical, and policy aspects of sustainable energy markets. As a prime contractor on the Power Africa indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, we design and implement solutions that can help countries build more sustainable energy sectors, as well as providing innovative tools and approaches to increase the professional participation and leadership of women in energy. To learn more about RTI work in Energy for Development, please click here.
