The Board of Directors of the AfDB Group has approved a financing facility for the Desert to Power project, covering Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Many initiatives plan to exploit the Desert to Power project.

In the energy transition strategy of the countries of the Sahel, solar power is one of the main areas of investment. According to a statement, the Bank plans to commit up to $379.6 million in financing and technical assistance there over the next seven years. Desert to Power aims to make the Sahel the largest solar production area in the world with 10,000 MW of energy capacity.

The project is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 14.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. In October 2021, the Green Climate Fund granted $150 million to support the project. The AfDB financial facility will provide additional solar generation capacity of 500 MW and facilitate access to electricity for 695,000 households.