During the launch of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) Energy initiative for Africa at the third African Business Forum held recently in Addis Ababa, countries have discussed ways on how to engage the private sector to efficiently exploit the resources taking part in governments’ development plans.
Africa’s present energy state is a paradox of abundant energy resources (including hydro, solar, wind and geothermal energy) and a very high deficit in access to modern energy, with about 590 million people are still lacking access to electricity.
In fact, few countries, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, among others, have made significant progress in electrification in recent years.
Although the potential for all forms of energy resources (particularly renewable) is very high, the share of renewable in the power mix, as documents indicate, is still very low and the total installed capacity for electricity is only about 230GW, dominated by fossil. This is just under the installed capacity of Indonesia, three percent of China’s capacity and six percent of that of India.
South Africa’s installed capacity of 54.2 GW is approximately equal to the installed capacity in the rest of Africa, excluding Northern African countries.
Climate change is causing unprecedented variations in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events: floods, droughts, and heat waves. This has serious implications for Africa’s development, even though the continent contributes the least the global anthropogenic emissions causing the looming climate crisis.
However, the crisis brings an opportunity for Africa to capitalize on its vast renewable energy resources to be global pole for low carbon climate resilient development. How the countries respond to the increasing energy demand will be fundamental to the performance of their economies and realization of their development aspirations as embodied in various national development plans, the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
At the Panel discussion held at the forum,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s President said that the most critical thing for Africa is to understand what it wants and where it aspires to reach as a continent through identifying the challenges and prioritizing the needs.
Scott Mather, Chief Investment Officer U.S Core Strategies, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) on his part mentioned that as most private sector are now showing keen interest in Africa and have started focusing on sustainable issues, it is important to seize the opportunity to find continued ways to solve this problem.
Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the ECA indicated that with the SDG -7 initiative and leadership, it is able to make the renewable energy and the financing of the renewable energy a reality. However, taking away the subsidy and ensuring to get the right generation in place is a must.
Instruments that can support clean energy investments were also mentioned as they were highly required to mobilize the financing needed for Africa’s energy transformation.
As Africa has committed to achieve universal access to electricity through an affordable and sustainable energy supply, it was mentioned that its energy system should absorb a diversified reservoir of clean energy source.
As a result, the engagement of the private sector as well as the commitment of governments is of paramount importance to realize the goal.
Transformational leadership and mechanisms to fast-track policy and regulatory reforms were mentioned as urgent requirements to unlock Africa’s clean energy potential for sustainable development on the continent.
It was mentioned that it will provide the enabling environment needed to enhance the confidence investors and leverage limited public resources against a background of competing demands for resources to mobilize the needed investments from the private sector.
The Ethiopian Herald February 26/2020
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
