Invest in Africa (digital - reduced)

POWER, ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE
TOWARDS AN
EARTH-FRIENDLY AFRICA
$12bn
AfDB’s commitment
to renewable energy
150GW
Africa’s current energy
capacity from all resources
10GW
Renewable energy
targeted for delivery by 2020
300GW
To be generated by 2030 from
renewable energy resources alone
300m MW
The potential for solar
photovoltaic on the continent
250m MW
Is blowing in the wind
Source: AU, IRENA, World Bank, AfDB
EPA/Nic Bothma/Alamy
of the world, Africa has no shortage of renewable energy.
But harnessing these effectively poses some challenges.
According to the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA), one significant barrier to policymakers
and project developers is a lack of geospatial and
economic data relating to country specific energy
resources. A 2015 analysis of 21 countries states that
“about half lack even basic renewable energy resource
assessments”. It continues: “The ability to identify
priority, low-regret renewable energy development
options that satisfy multiple stakeholder concerns is
crucial for African countries with limited financial and
institutional resources for energy planning and
development”.
According to Sokona, finding synergies with
existing and future renewable energy projects will
be a focus of AREI’s work.
Not unique to renewables, but to the energy sector as
a whole, is the skills shortage. The AfDB’s New Deal on
Energy for Africa efforts are underway to develop skills
and today there are five support centres of excellence
across the continent. “From welders to technicians and
engineers, there are a whole range of skills that are
needed, and as we scale up investment we will need
o have a corresponding effort to increase skills
capacity,” Rugamba says.
Another renewable challenge is the ability to ensure
that tariffs are competitive enough for the project to be
viable. In March 2008, for example, South Africa launched
its Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT), which
proved to be an important catalyst for driving interest in
renewables by entrepreneurs and private investors both
nationally and globally. According to a State of Energy
report released by South Africa’s Department of Energy,
by late 2015 REIPPPP had attracted R53.2 billion in foreign
direct investment and financing into South Africa across
all bid windows.
Getting renewable energy onto the national grid, as
well as the ability to store it, are other technical hurdles,
but these are becoming easier as technology develops,
says Rugamba. A major advantage of CSP, for example,
over other renewable technologies like wind and
photovoltaic is its ability to convert sunlight into energy
that can easily be stored and subsequently used for power
generation when demand is higher.
Whether Africa’s renewable energy story becomes
world leading remains to be seen. In 2017, with sunshine
on their backs and the wind propelling them forward,
African leaders have a responsibility to keep the
renewable flame burning. •
Invest in Africa 2017 | 43