Energy & Power

Powering Africa’s Future with Clean Energy

To achieve energy access for all, Africa must maximize clean energy options, emphasize energy efficiency, and work with developed countries and development institutions to quickly and effectively channel a more substantial share of development financing.

Hela Cheikhrouhou, Director
Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department

The Need: Greater Energy Access

Africa has significant resources of hydro, solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy but it produces only about 9.5 percent of the world’s total output, well below its potential.   Production is low and resources are unevenly distributed.

Of the world’s 1.5 billion people living without electricity, 80% live in Sub-Saharan Africa. If current trends continue unchanged, fewer than half the population of Sub-Saharan Africa will have access to electricity by 2050 and the number of people without access will actually increase through 2030.  Access to energy closely correlates with poverty: insufficient access to electricity or other energy sources also means that health services, access to clean water and sanitation, and education all suffer.

The widespread use of charcoal and wood pose threats for those cooking while contributing to CO2 emissions, deforestation and desertification.    Most of the 2.5 billion people using traditional biomass for household energy live in Africa, which currently contributes only 4 percent of the global greenhouse gases but if “business as usual” continues, emissions wil rise.

Only one in four Africans has access to modern energy sources such as electricity.  With the exception of South Africa, power consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa is barely one percent of the level in high-income countries.

The Opportunity: Vibrant Low Carbon Growth

Africa can grow a strong low-carbon economy with the assistance over the next decade of some $100 billion a year of international finance.   This is low compared with the economic benefits of adaptation and mitigation. But countries with enormous renewable resources need incentives to develop their potential and energy trade regulations and transmission lines to be able to take advantage of their renewable resources.

The Bank’s forthcoming energy strategy focuses on increased access to energy and fostering investments in clean energy.  Current projects emphasize multi-national grid interconnections that offer economies of scale and the development of renewable energy using hydro, geothermal, wind, solar, and uranium.

Hydro (an estimated 1,750 TWh)

The Sahanivotry hydroelectric power project in Madagascar has improved people’s lives, given solid return on investment and can be replicated in other African countries with hydropower potential. The first privately owned and operated hydroelectric power plan on the island and accounts for 10% of its total electricity supply.

Inga hydropower, Democratic Republic of Congo   The largest hydropower potential on the continent, (an estimated 39,000 MW) Inga has two installed plants that represent only 4% of its potential. The Bank is helping to upgrade the existing plants and financing feasibility studies to determine how best to develop the site’s capacity.  Inga could provide hydroelectricity to many African regions with an interconnected electricity network and energy market.

The Bujagali hydroelectric run-of-the-river power plant, project, Uganda will mean fewer blackouts and brownouts and reduce the need for expensive, polluting back-up generators. The project includes upgraded and new transmission lines and substations.

The Itezhi-Texhi hydropower plant, Zambia will be located at the site of the existing dam on the Kafue River. It is the first public private partnership in the energy sector in Zambia and will have a base load of 120 MW.

Solar

The Bank has partnered with Eskom, South Africa’s public utility, to develop Sub-Saharan Africa’s first concentrated solar power plant and South Africa’s first utility-scale wind farm. The Bank is also transferring the knowledge of how to design and manage solar and wind power projects to South African experts. The project is an example of combined financing  with other multilateral development funds to promote clean energy development.

Wind

The Cabeolica wind farm, Cape Verde includes four on-shore wind farms on four islands that will greatly reduce reliance on costly imported oil for electricity conversion. This is the first large-scale public private partnership in the Cape Verdean infrastructure sector and the first independent power producers in wind to operate in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Eskom project (see solar above) has a 100MW wind farm at Sere.

Bio-Energy

Addax bioenergy project , Sierra Leone, will convert 10,000 ha of irrigated sugarcane to ethanol and power. The ethanol is intended for export to the European Union, while the electricity will serve domestic needs. In addition to creating jobs and a renewable electricity supply, the project will include a farmer development program to support food production.

Sustainable Transport

The Bank supports the development of sustainable, low carbon intensive transport and public mass transit and rail transportation projects. The proposed Nairobi Metropolitan Transit System will help develop a sustainable urban public transit. RMCs will also be supported to implement appropriate fiscal and regulatory frameworks to promote sustainable transport.   

Partnerships and Financing Options

Climate change is a global challenge that no single organization can address comprehensively. The Bank leverages its resources to implement its pipeline of projects and anticipates resources from the Copenhagen Green Fund, Climate Investment Funds, Global Environment Facility, and the Adaptation Fund, and stimulates private sector investments through clean energy bonds, seed funding, and other avenues that encourage investor confidence.