Sub-Saharan Africa faces chronic power problems, including insufficient generation capacity, low connectivity, poor reliability, and high costs, all of which constrain development. The investment requirements to meet Africa's power needs are noted and strategies to address the funding gap are set out. The time for an ideological debate on public versus private investment is over-both are needed. Africa's key challenges are the management of hybrid power markets, the reform of state-owned utilities, cost-reflective pricing, better targeting of subsidies, the nimbler rollout of electrification, and stronger regional integration. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.