Energy poverty is one of the challenges that Africa is facing currently as a developing continent. As a continent marred by lack of financial and technological capacity, Electricity generation capacity in Africa is low. Installed grid-based power generation capacity in Africa has been steadily increasing, reaching 194 GW in 2015.Estimates suggest that gas-fired generation capacity is now 38 percent of the continental total, followed by coal-fired (24 percent), oil-fired (18 percent), renewables including hydropower (17 percent), and nuclear (1 percent).
As a result access to one of the modern and clean sources of energy, electricity in Africa is low and variable. At present, 600 million people, or 43% of the total population, lack access to electricity, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries such as Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda are on track for full access by 2030, offering success stories other countries can follow. Our detailed analysis shows that extending national grids is the least costly and most prudent option for almost 45% of those gaining access to 2030. In rural areas, where over 80% of the electricity-deprived live, mini-grids and stand-alone systems, mostly solar based, are the most viable solutions.
This puts the continent to be ranked among the lowest in the world in terms of access to electricity, with 645 million people without access. Africa is actually endowed with vast potential resources of energy of various types like hydro, solar, nuclear …etc. Yet the capital and technological gaps coupled with lack of political commitment to choose the best option and bridge the gaps have hindered the development of the resources.
For instance Ethiopia has been working strenuously to exploit its abundant potential for the development of hydroelectric power from its river basins. Accordingly it is building large dams like that of the Abbay or Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). This will serve address the demands of clean energy both for the continents populous nation as well as across the border to neighboring countries.
However, compared to the rapidly growing need for clean energy in the continent, the building of hydropower dams would not be adequate. This calls for the need to explore more other resources available in the continent. This should be done without forgetting the fact that the continent has to take a late comers advantage of choosing a clean, renewable and affordable source of energy in which case hydro power still faces some critics.
“In some places, hydro power is not considered renewable, because it depends on not just the availability, but the replenishment of water in the dams. So as climate change is happening, and rainfall is erratic, we are getting less and less water. So the dams are going down, and the capacity is going down. So we can almost take them out. And when you take out your Hydros, which form like a base load, then you have a gap. You have a big gap, and you need to replace that gap quickly. So in order to be able to do so with a firm source of power, you look at what resources are available” says Andrew Amadi, Chairperson of Kenya Renewable Energy Association.
Regardless of the cost implication, in which case the countries of the continent shrink from pushing forward, nuclear energy should be taken in to considerations in all the deliberations that are held to speed up the development of clean energy in the continent. Just as the continent is source of majority of the input for nuclear energy it can take advantage of the cost to supply its population with cheaper alternative source of energy supply.
The issue of addressing the climate impact of nuclear energy can also be settled as the technology is in use in other parts of the world safely without too much complaint. “Nuclear has the advantage that it has no carbon emissions. Yeah, there are issues around nuclear. But in terms of an energy source, it will not. There are carbon emissions in the production of uranium in the process. But those are embedded carbon not in that direct generation of energy. And I think that is where the challenge is, if Africa starts to industrialize, if Africa starts to put steel plants and to put all of these very heavy industries, we don’t have them”, according to Amadi.
Amadi argues that nuclear has the advantage that it has a very low operating cost. “You will buy uranium, it’s sold by the ground, but you use very little uranium to produce a lot of electricity. So that will bring down the costs when you do the total life cost analysis. It might be high, but it’s almost like insurance, that you will have the power when you need it”
Now that a lot of ideas are flowing concerning the best options for developing energy in Africa, the funding is also likely to be as smooth now that Africa is raising its presence in the new bloc of the global south BRICS. According to analysts the joining of the two most populous and rapidly growing countries of Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia is good news in soliciting alternative and adaptable sources of finance for development of vital facilities like infrastructure and energy.
“And what we need to do for Ethiopia, especially all the countries involved in Africa, is we need long term, low interest. What I mean is 2 to 3% long term interest rates on 15 year loans, government backed loans, or government supported loans for infrastructure. We need to be building an additional 1000 gig watts of power on the continent. We need to have a high speed rail system that connects every port, every major city, every major industrial center, every major agricultural center, connects the continent so that we can do the merger of Africa” said Laurence Freeman, Political and Economic Analyst for Africa.
This year’s African Energy Week (AEW) is set to take place on upcoming October 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. It comes at a time when the continent’s demand for clean energy is growing rapidly along with the need to make sure that it invests on clean sources of energy to keep its vulnerable environment safer.
African Energy Week (AEW) is the African Energy Chamber’s annual event, uniting African energy leaders, global investors and executives from across the public and private sector for four days of intense dialogue on the future of the African energy industry. An interactive conference, exhibition and networking event, AEW was established in 2021 under the premise to make energy poverty history by 2030, hosting panel discussions, investor forums, industry summits and one-on-one meeting opportunities, and driving the discussions that will reshape the trajectory of the continent’s energy development.
As political commitment is the pivotal factor in paving the way for the future development of the energy sector leaders of the continent should take advantage of the emerging opportunities for cooperation in financing and technology to deliver the continent out of the abject poverty of energy it is suffering from.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 30 AUGUST 2023
