Vision du Groupe de la Banque

I believe that the approach to "energising" Africa erquires a different model to the more traditional ones we have hitherto adopted. The reality are: 1. the population densities (and scatter) are more random, especially in the rural areas, making the reticulation costs very expensive. 2. The usage of power after traversing all these kilometres, AND having the lines energised to meet the demand, may always make the economic sense marginal. I believe we need to assess the TYPE of energy we predominantly need (and in all cases it is THERMAL, i.e. HEATING) for 50%+ of the total. Thus we should be supplyin the cheaper and more appropriate fuel for this function, that is Gas. GAS is portable, used only as required, cleaner, faster and can be taken to ant location required. Once this is in place, the energy required for other uses, (lighting, appliances, etc) becomes relatively minor and can easily be met, even on a house by house basis, using sources such as solar, small inverter, etc. This matrix will prove MUCH CHEAPER than the traditional route of builing power stations and carrying power to all the remote areas using expensive copper and aluminium conductors, which themselves add to the overall cost and are prone to theft and vandalism. The maintenance costs of electrical infrastructure (transformers, switchgear) are also a cost to factored into the overall supplier costs. I am therefore proposing that the bank assists in the thorough assessment of the ENERGY MIX/MATRIX that is ideal for the African environment so that we do not commit resources that will strangle our consumers to huge infrastructure costs for many years to come.