may-2012

expected to grow by 5 per cent a year for the next 20 years, and
entrepreneurs like Kragh are hacking out a small-scale, low-carbon
path to universal African electrification.
SolarAid, set up by the British environmental consultant and author
Jeremy Leggett, installs solar panels in schools and community centres
across East and Southern Africa. Solar Sister, Founded by an
American former investment banker Katherine Lucey, uses
microfinancing to fund “woman-centred” solar sales networks across
rural Africa. ToughStuff, an East African concern with World Bank
backing, produces solar-powered products, lamps, solar panels and
phone chargers, aimed at low-income Africans. Meanwhile San
Francisco’s d.light, founded by Stanford MBA graduates Ned Tozun
and Sam Goldman, provides clean and affordable solar alternatives to
kerosene lamps.
More straightforward businesses are also in the market. The
Gambia’s Gamsolar designs and installs solar energy systems, water
pumps, solar panels and back-up generators. Its founder, the Dutch
energy professional Hans Noteboom, believes the future of African
electricity provision lies in small, decentralised systems.
“Grid systems aren’t efficient,” says Noteboom, “they’re usually a
state monopoly and are not run in a business-like manner.”
Though the costs of solar energy installation and maintenance are
high, they’re becoming increasingly efficient, as hydrocarbon prices
rise. “The price of solar cells is always coming down,” Noteboom
observes, “while the oil price goes up.”
Leapfrogging
Among international commentators, there’s a hope that low-income
countries can “miss out” on the old, twentieth century model of
electricity generation that’s dependent on fossil
fuels, and instead develop low-carbon,
decentralised schemes. “It happened with
telephones, when many countries skipped
landlines and went straight to
mobile,” says Ken Banks,
developer of FrontlineSMS,
free text-messaging software
for Africa-based NGOs.
“Perhaps the new model for
Africa’s power is also very
different – localised grids
using renewable energies.”
The Electric Power
Research Institute, a
US-based industry body,
predicts that what may
emerge from these innovations
is a meshing of grids with real-time
performance data, an African
“IntelliGrid” – a wireless
information network binding
together a continent-wide power
system.
Such a smart grid would funnel together centrally produced
electricity from traditional fossil-fuel fired sources as well hydro and
nuclear-power stations, and combine these with electricity coming
from local micro-grids and smaller producers. Constantly monitoring
itself, this system would eliminate power outages, in the same way as
digital telephone systems did away with the need for human operators
to put through calls.
Current realities
At the moment, of course,
brussels airlines b.spirit! magazine may-jun
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urban Africa’s electricity
supply is less reliable.
Unfortunately, in
economic terms, what
counts is reliability,
argue Thomas
Barnebeck
Andersen and
Carl-Johan Dalgaard,
professors of economics at the
Universities of Southern Denmark and
Copenhagen respectively. “A patchy service is an improvement over no
service, of course,” says Andersen, “but policymakers shouldn’t think
that once a power grid is up and running, that this is enough in itself.”
When power gets turned off regularly, businesses end up having to
cough up. Unlike their better-connected competitors, they find
themselves obliged to invest in expensive generators. Computers are
sensitive to even small power disturbances and power surge protectors
add to business costs. Sensitive electronics malfunction more regularly,
and so there’s less investment in IT, and less readiness to innovate.
So, what would happen to Africa’s economic growth if all African
countries were to experience South Africa’s power quality? Instead of,
say, 10.5 power outages during a typical month, if the number went
down to two?
Anderson and Dalgaard’s research suggests that the average annual
real GDP per capita growth rate would increase by two percentage
points. In other words, countries like Ghana and the DRC would find
themselves growing as fast as China. “This is how important a reliable
power supply is,” says Andersen. Steady power equals high growth?
That’s truly a light bulb moment for Africa.
2012 UN International Year of Sustainable Energy for All,
sustainableenergyforall.org
9-11 May World Economic Forum on Africa 2012, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, weforum.org
21-25 May African Utility Week, Johannesburg, South Africa,
african-utility-week.com
20-22 June Rio+20, UN conference on Sustainable Development,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, uncsd2012.org/rio20
October The Third International Off-Grid Lighting Conference and
Trade Fair, Dakar, Senegal, lightingafrica.org
ź0
00 4
2012 Année internationale de l’énergie durable pour tous
sustainableenergyforall.org
9-11 mai Forum économique mondial sur l’Afrique 2012, Addis
Abeba, Éthiopie, weforum.org
21-25 mai African Utility Week, Salon international de l’Energie
électrique à Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud, african-utility-week.com
20-22 juin Rio+20, Conférence des Nations Unies pour le
développement durable, Rio de Janeiro, Brésil, uncsd2012.org/rio20
Octobre Troisième Conférence internationale et Salon commercial
sur l’éclairage hors-réseau, Dakar, Sénégal, lightingafrica.org
Brussels Airlines flies to 20 African destinations
ILLUSTRATIONS JEMMA ROBINSON/JEMILLO.COM