“In Cape Town, South Africa over the weekend, President Obama talked about a new energy plan called “Power Africa.” He described it as “a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.” The president implied that the U.S. government will invest $7 billion in taxpayer money to help bring 10,000 mw of electricity to sub-Saharan Africa. Electricity, he said, is “the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs and it’s the connection needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy. You’ve got to have power.”

Go here;
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/07/01/with-power-africa-plan-obama-to-grease-billions-in-deals-for-g-e/#4184255a29d3

From Forbes...

In addition to General Electric, the White House also said that private companies lined up to invest include Heirs Holdings, the investment vehicle of Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu, which will recieve $2.5 billion. Aldwych International, a Dutch-backed company, plans to use the money to build a 400 mw wind power project in Kenya. And then there's Symbion Power, which is run by Lord Richard Westbury, a former officer with the British special forces, and which counts former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson (husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame) as a director. Symbion has done a handful of power projects in Iraq, and recently completed a 55 mw diesel-powered electricity project in Tanzania.

According to the White House, smaller projects competing in an "Off-Grid Energy Challenge" within the Power Africa plan will be funded with $2 million from the U.S. African Development Foundation.

These will likely include Soccket, a soccer ball with a built in electric generator that harnesses and stores the kinetic energy generated by kicking the ball around. Bill Gates is an investor. Apparently there was one of these balls on Air Force One. White House aide Mike Froman explained the idea to the press pool on Air Force One: "Kids play soccer all day long. They take the thing, the ball home, and you can plug a lamp into it and they can read at night. Or they can plug a cell phone charger into it." It's more a gimmick than a solution, but every little bit helps.

How does this HELP Americans?