USTDA funds the feasibility studies, technical assistance and pilot projects that move infrastructure from concept to investable proposal. Its Africa energy program channels that mandate toward sustainable infrastructure development and U.S. export growth across the continent.

Since 1992, USTDA has contributed to more than $127 billion in U.S. exports to infrastructure projects in emerging markets, generating $226 in exports for every dollar programmed. Thomas R. Hardy, USTDA's Deputy Director performing the duties of Director, has described the agency's model as one built on early engagement, supplying American technology and expertise to projects before financing decisions are made.

By joining IAE, USTDA helps strengthen the institutional framework needed to bridge early-stage project preparation with final investment decisions across African energy markets.

Grid Security, Gas Infrastructure Anchor USTDA Africa Expansion

In August 2026, USTDA brought power sector decision-makers from Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia to Denver and Austin for grid modernization and transmission upgrade discussions, and has a second round of engagements planned for Cape Town, South Africa, later this year. The agency has announced a new feasibility study along the Lobito Corridor to strengthen power infrastructure supporting mineral extraction in the DRC and Zambia. Energy security, fossil fuel exports and critical minerals lead the strategic agenda, tracking the broader direction of US development finance on the continent.

A Sierra Leone Feasibility Study Unlocked $412 Million in DFC Capital

A USTDA-funded feasibility study for a gas-to-power project in Sierra Leone led to a $412 million DFC financing package in 2024. Developed by Nairobi-based Milele Energy and TCQ Power, the project became Sierra Leone's first utility-scale independent power plant, expected to expand national generation capacity by 75%.

In Nigeria, a 2020 USTDA study for Green Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (GLNG) took a different path, helping mobilize naira-based financing through Nigerian guarantor InfraCredit and enabling GLNG to issue AAA-rated infrastructure bonds in 2023 and 2025. CEO Chinua Azubike described the trajectory as moving “from the project development phase with the support of USTDA, to its maiden debt issuance in the capital markets.”

USTDA at IAE 2027: Transforming How Africa's Energy Projects Access Capital

IAE 2027's B2G Day, the opening day of the program on May 11, will accelerate the pace at which African governments and international capital providers move from introductions to commitments. The day structures direct engagement between government delegations and investors, and USTDA's presence gives those delegations immediate access to the agency that can fund the feasibility studies and technical assessments their priority projects need to attract financing.

The Investor Circle, a DFC-anchored session on the same day, takes the conversation further. The interactive format brings together senior government, investment and industry stakeholders to examine how sovereign energy masterplans can be translated into credible, investment-ready capital expenditure pipelines attractive to private capital. USTDA's project preparation mandate sits at the center of that conversation, determining bankability before DFC, DFIs or private capital enter the picture.

No other platform in the African energy calendar assembles such a robust institutional chain. For the African energy industry, this collapses a process that has run on separate tracks for years, with preparation handled bilaterally and financing mobilized through disconnected forums, into a single concentrated engagement. Under IAE 2027's theme of ‘Shifting Power by Signing Deals,’ the full architecture from upstream preparation to signed commitment will be assembled in one room.

Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2027 takes place May 11-13 in Paris. The event convenes African governments, international investors, DFIs, project developers and energy companies for three days of capital allocation, deal-making and government-to-business engagement. For more information and to register, visit invest-africa-energy.com.