Center of Excellence: Productive use of energy

The Center of Excellence on Productive Use of Energy turns connections into economic opportunity — and builds the bankable revenue streams needed to attract and sustain investment across Mission 300
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Global Energy Alliance and World Bank's joint global platform turns energy access into jobs and economic growth.

This joint initiative aims to provide millions of households and enterprises across Africa with the tools, financing, and enabling conditions to put energy to productive use, transforming electrification into vital social infrastructure that catalyses jobs, industrialisation, and long-term economic resilience.

  • First-of-its-kind global Centre of Excellence to scale Productive Use of Energy (PUE) as a core pillar of economic opportunity by linking electrification to agriculture, enterprise, and industry.
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Basic electricity access has increased. The economic dividend hasn’t.

The Center of Excellence will ensure people have what they need to use electricity to profit and thrive.

73% to 90%

Global electricity access, 2003–2023. A remarkable achievement on basic access — but not on what those connections do.

$0.30–$1.20

Cost per kWh across Sub-Saharan Africa — prohibitively high for powering enterprises and livelihoods.

<1 in 10

Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with access to mechanized equipment.

~20-25%

Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to credit – limiting access to affordable lending for mechanization.

Connections alone do not build economies.

Over the past two decades, global electricity access rose from 73 to 90 percent — a remarkable achievement. Yet this progress has not translated into the economic opportunity it promised. Across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, millions of households and enterprises now have a connection but lack the tools, financing and enabling conditions to put energy to productive use.

The barriers are structural as much as they are technical. Energy costs remain prohibitively high, fewer than a quarter of smallholder farmers can access credit and current PUE programs remain fragmented and disconnected from adjacent sectors — agriculture, health, small enterprise, education — where energy could most powerfully drive income, jobs and resilience.

The next phase of Mission 300 depends on turning every new connection into a productive asset — a solar pump, a mill, a cold room, a processing line.

This is the window in which productive use of energy must move from pilot to infrastructure. It requires institutional architecture that does not yet exist at scale.

Our approach

A coordinated platform, built around four integrated functions.

Develops toolkits and policy frameworks, and pilots frontier technologies such as AI-driven demand forecasting and digital marketplaces. Hosts learning platforms connecting policymakers, investors and implementers.

Delivery engine

Embeds cross-institutional PUE advisors within Mission 300 country programs, providing hands-on technical assistance on market development, financing models, appliance deployment and program design.

Innovation & strategy hub

Develops toolkits and policy frameworks, pilots frontier technologies such as AI-driven demand forecasting and digital marketplaces, and hosts learning platforms connecting policymakers, investors and implementers.

Coordination & capital mobilization

Aligns programs and funding flows across Global Energy Alliance, the World Bank, donors, and NGOs — maintaining shared metrics and accountability frameworks to reduce duplication and accelerate what works.

PUE enterprise scale & partnerships

Supports enterprises to grow in the PUE ecosystem through technical assistance, venture-building platforms, and catalytic capital to unlock private investment and strategic partnerships.

What CoE will deliver

Better-designed national PUE programs

Genuinely reaching smallholder farmers, MSMEs, and underserved communities with investable, scalable architectures.

Open-access knowledge products

Best-practice playbooks, impact data, and policy toolkits — available to the entire global development community.

Strategic engagement platforms

For funders, investors, private sector and government — ensuring coordinated funding flows and coherent programming.

Market and livelihood linkages

Connecting rural entrepreneurs to finance, value chains, and the instruments needed to turn productive demand into durable income.

A standardized PUE job-creation framework

A common methodology for defining, counting and attributing jobs to PUE interventions — enabling credible cross-country comparison for the first time.

Government & practitioner capacity

Training and embedded advisory support across ministries and task teams in 20+ countries.
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“Expanding access to electricity is only the beginning. What matters is what that energy makes possible in people’s lives. When a farmer can process and store crops, or a small business can power equipment and grow, energy access becomes economic opportunity. This partnership will help strengthen the links between electrification, agriculture and enterprise so that energy access translates into more jobs, growing incomes and stronger local economies.”
—Makena Ireri,
Managing Director of Powering Opportunity, Global Energy Alliance
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“This new Center of Excellence will be instrumental in helping countries unleash the full promise of Mission 300. Greater promotion and adoption of productive uses of energy will complement household connections to lift people out of energy poverty, improve livelihoods, and create economic opportunities and jobs.”
—Dana Rysankova,
Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank Group.

About the partners

The World Bank | ESMAP

The World Bank Group and its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) help countries accelerate sustainable energy access and translate it into jobs, productivity, and economic growth. Through Mission 300, the CoE ensures expanded electricity access translates into productive, income-generating uses, amplifying Mission 300's impact on economic opportunity and job creation. ESMAP's catalytic funding, technical assistance, and global knowledge, paired with the WBG's operational financing and country engagement, strengthen program design, market development, and implementation.