Biden's $2 Billion Angola Solar Pitch: Sullivan Says He Expects 'a Major Deployment of Solar Power in Angola' (December 12, 2022)

President Biden’s national security adviser told reporters on Dec. 12, 2022, that the president “really expects” a “major deployment of solar power in Angola” from a $2 billion deal Biden had been touting for months. Jake Sullivan called it “a significant project that was facilitated by funding and mechanisms from the United States government.”

Sullivan spoke at a White House briefing with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to preview the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, which was to bring delegations from 49 African countries and the African Union to Washington [1]. The video above shows the exchange. Quotes are from the official White House transcript, published by the American Presidency Project.

”He Really Expects That You Will See a Major Deployment of Solar Power”

A reporter put the question directly. “Recently, President Biden announced $2 billion investment for Angola,” the reporter said, asking whether more investment was coming and “what the President really expects from this investment that he announced many times for Angola?” [1]

“So, I — he really expects that you will see a major deployment of solar power in Angola,” Sullivan answered. “That was a significant project that was facilitated by funding and mechanisms from the United States government, so he’s looking forward to seeing that actually come to fruition” [1].

Sullivan promised more. At the summit, he said, Biden would make “a series of other announcements that benefit a wide range of countries in Africa, some of which also will come to the benefit of Angola” [1]. Earlier in the briefing he announced that the United States would commit $55 billion to Africa over three years [1].

Biden’s $2 Billion Talking Point

The reporter was right that Biden had announced it “many times.”

Biden first pitched it on June 26, 2022, at the Group of Seven summit in Germany, where he launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, a G7 push to “close the infrastructure gap in developing countries” [5]. “The U.S. Government just facilitated a new partnership between two American firms and the Government of Angola to invest $2 billion in building a—new solar projects in Angola,” he said. The deal, he added, would help Angola meet its climate goals “while creating new markets for American technologies and good jobs in Angola and, I suspect, throughout Africa” [2].

Four days later, at a news conference in Madrid after the NATO summit, he made the China contrast explicit. “Unlike China, these projects will be done transparently and with very high standards,” Biden said, before repeating the $2 billion Angola example and adding: “When I think ‘climate,’ I think ‘jobs’” [3].

Two days after Sullivan’s briefing, Biden cited it again at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, listing “a deal worth $2 billion to build solar energy projects in Angola” [4].

What the Deal Actually Was

The White House fact sheet from the G7 launch spelled it out. With support from the Commerce Department and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, U.S. firm AfricaGlobal Schaffer and Miami-based developer Sun Africa “signed a contract with the Government of Angola to develop a $2 billion solar project in four southern Angola provinces” [5].

The project was to include “solar mini-grids, solar cabins with telecommunications capabilities, and home power kits,” the fact sheet said. It would support “up to $1.3 billion in U.S. exports” and help Angola toward its goal of “generating 70% carbon-free power by 2025” [5].

Who Picked Up the Tab

The government money came from the Export-Import Bank, which describes itself as “an independent federal agency” and the nation’s official export credit agency [6].

June 2023: EXIM’s board approved “a direct loan for more than $900 million” to Angola’s Ministry of Energy and Water for two solar power plants that would generate over 500 megawatts. EXIM called it its largest renewable energy transaction to date. “This transaction not only aligns with President Biden’s PGII initiative, but also advances EXIM’s efforts to promote clean energy exports, strengthen the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship and support U.S. exporters and American workers facing foreign competition,” said EXIM President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis [6].
July 2024: EXIM agreed to lend another $1.6 billion to the Angolan government for 65 solar mini-grids in four provinces, which would also power water treatment plants, Global Trade Review reported [7].
December 2024: The White House said Sun Africa was “part of a historic EXIM financing commitment of over $2.4 billion connecting a million Angolans to clean electricity” [8].

In other words, the $2 billion deal Biden touted became more than $2.4 billion in financing commitments from a federal agency.

The Critics

Biden’s Africa energy pledges got a rough reception on the right. When Biden listed the Angola solar deal at the business forum alongside an $8 billion package to help South Africa replace coal-fired power plants, Fox News reported that he was “roasted” online [9].

Sky News host Rita Panahi called the announcement “weapon-grade lunacy,” and Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton tweeted, “What a racket,” Fox News reported [9].

By the Numbers

$2 billion: The Angola solar deal Biden announced at the G7 in June 2022 [2][5].
4: Southern Angolan provinces the project was meant to cover [5].
More than $900 million: EXIM’s June 2023 direct loan for two solar plants [6].
$1.6 billion: EXIM’s July 2024 loan for 65 solar mini-grids [7].
More than $2.4 billion: Total EXIM financing commitment cited by the White House in December 2024 [8].
$55 billion: What Sullivan said the United States would commit to Africa over three years [1].

What Happened Next

Biden finally went to Angola in December 2024, weeks before handing power to President Trump. It was the first and only trip to sub-Saharan Africa of his presidency [10].

The trip centered on the Lobito Corridor, a railway linking mines in Congo and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic coast. AFP called the project “a piece in the geopolitical battle between the United States and its allies and China, which owns mines in the DRC and Zambia” [10]. The White House announced a $553 million direct loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to the Lobito Atlantic Railway [8][10].

The solar plants are another story. As of October 2026, Global Energy Monitor’s solar power tracker still listed the EXIM-backed solar farm in Angola as “announced,” not operating [11]. HYGO News found no public report that the EXIM-financed plants had come online.

At the December 2022 briefing, Sullivan said that in talks with African leaders before the summit, “the key question has been follow-through.” He added: “It’s not about what we say; it’s about what we do” [1].