ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
Africa provides the perfect opportunity for the application of renewable energy solutions and technologies . Unfortunately , about 635 million Africans still live without electricity , and the demand for energy is rising quickly . Given the lack of power supply , particularly in the rural regions , the growth of and demand for applications of small-scale solar , wind and geothermal technologies providing power to people and businesses is rapidly expanding .
The use of renewable technologies is especially useful in the farther , outlying areas as it is easier to set up a more costeffective solution in order to reduce the need for transporting electricity from far-away power plants via transmission lines which becomes pricey . Renewable energy has the potential to considerably assist many African countries . Harnessing the continent ' s renewable energy potential will bring socioeconomic benefits in support of poverty reduction , economic growth and employment as well as environmental protection .
In Africa , the share of renewables in power generation is a little over 20 percent , but is expected to increase manifold in the future as governments in the region continue to provide incentives to clean energy producers . Some of the most popular renewable energy sources in Africa are as under :
Hydroelectricity : The Congo River , the Zambezi , the Niger River and the Nile provide most of the resources for hydropower generation . The share of hydro resources in Africa is dominated by Central Africa with 40 percent , followed by East ( 28 percent ) and Southern Africa ( 23 percent ). The Grand Inga Hydro Power Plant developed on the Congo River is one of the largest projects in Africa , and has a power generation capacity exceeding 44,000 MW .
Despite the huge potential in this field with its vast resources , Africa is only able to utilise 5-10 percent of its technological capabilities to harness these energy capacities . This requires huge capital and labour investments . Among the renewable energy sources , hydropower contributes the largest share towards power generation . But due to its negative effects on the environment , focus is now shifting to power generation through alternatives sources including solar and wind energy .
Solar Energy : Africa is the sunniest continent on Earth and , thus , has huge potential to generate power by harnessing solar energy . The Northern part of Africa and some parts of Southern and East Africa witness long sunny days , and solar energy can play an important role in achieving selfreliance in terms of power generation in these areas . The most popular types of technologies through which solar power is produced are Concentrating Solar Power ( CSP ) 25 and Photovoltaics ( PV ) 26 . With over 14 GW of solar PV and 6 GW of CSP in Africa , either announced or in the pipeline , there is huge scope for power generation through solar energy in the continent . In less than a decade ' s time , there has been a big jump in power generation - the PV installed capacity increased from 127 megawatts in 2009 ( MW ) to nearly 1400 MW as of 2016 , for which the data is available .
There have been significant cost reductions for solar PV due to new technological advancements , with prices having fallen by 75 percent . The electricity prices have also fallen between $ 0.13 and $ 0.26 / Kwh due to the lower cost of production .
36 • Africa Day Special • 2018