DtP Facility – G5 Sahel DtP Financing Facility

Adaptation Need

The Sahel region is highly vulnerable to climate change, with infrastructure not designed to withstand increasing climate risks. Key power assets such as critical power generation and distribution assets face climate shocks throughout their lifecycle, threatening reliability and performance. Developing climate resilient, reliable electricity systems is critical to powering economies in the Sahel. Desert to Power (DtP) projects will span the 11 countries in the Sahel, which are highly affected by climate change and have low adaptative capacity. Rising climate hazards—such as droughts, extreme heat, windstorms, and unpredictable rainfall—pose risks to renewable energy systems by reducing asset lifespan, increasing breakdowns and maintenance needs, and lowering energy generation revenues.

GCA’s Added Value

GCA has delivered climate risks analysis and preliminary analysis of possible green and grey adaptation and resilience options tailored per country and typology of risks for all targeted countries of the Desert to Power Initiative: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan. The climate risks analysis includes grid-connected solar generation plants and decentralized solar solutions. High-resolution climate risks assessment highlights the relevant current and projected climate hazards and hotspots of vulnerability across the countries, and their impact on power generation and transmission systems. Heatwaves as an example is projected to be from severe to very severe on every analyzed country in the RCP 8.5 scenario, leading to revenue reduction up to 10-20% for solar technologies.