SIDUAVA, Mozambique, Sept 7, (AP): Hermínio Guambe used to cut hair in a tiny barbershop with no electricity in his village outside Mozambique’s capital. The arrival of power changed everything. The 48-year-old now uses hair dryers. The village pharmacy stocks vital medicines requiring refrigeration. More jobs were created as trading and transport picked up.

"These are the kinds of businesses that drive economies,” World Bank President Ajay Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press during a July visit to tour electrification projects and meet entrepreneurs like Guambe. "Electricity isn’t just light, it’s a chance.” Mozambique has won World Bank backing for the $6 billion Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric plant, southern Africa’s biggest such project in 50 years.

Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries by per capita income, aims to connect all of its 33 million mostly rural citizens to electricity by 2030, largely through renewable energy from hydroelectric, solar and other sources. The challenge is similar in much of sub-Saharan Africa, home to 85% of the global population living without power, according to the World Bank.

Electricity access in Mozambique has nearly doubled from 31% in 2018 to 60% in 2024. The state-run energy supplier Electricidade de Moçambique, or EDM, says it connected 563,000 homes in 2024 and plans to reach 600,000 this year. "Mozambique has the resources, gas, hydro, solar, and it’s already the biggest supplier of excess power to southern Africa,” Banga said.

His visit came with fanfare, and political undertones. President Daniel Chapo, who took office after a disputed 2024 election, raised his fist to cheering crowds. Located 60 kilometers (37 miles) downstream from the even larger Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam along the Zambezi river, the Mphanda Nkuwa plant is expected to generate 1,500 megawatts when it begins operations in 2031. That will help a region facing a 10,000-megawatt deficit that keeps millions from accessing power. The World Bank is not financing the project outright.