BEST PRACTISES ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AFRICA THE CURRENT STATUS Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2018 Renewable energy in Africa: The current status 2014–16. Among the strongest performers were Bangladesh, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, which expanded access by more than 5 percentage points annually between 2014 and 2016. Electricity and energy are key issues today targets and the SDG7 goal: to “ensure ac- 90 GW 2. Already, concentrated solar po- on the African continent: about two-thirds cess to affordable, reliable, sustainable wer, photovoltaics and wind turbines are • Socioeconomic1.of its electrificationpopulation does not havepatterns: any ac- Access and modern to electricity energy for all” isuntil strongly 2030. associateddeployed across with the poverty,continent. with access cess to electricity services. The situation rates four timesin Sub-Saharan higher Africa in theis especially top quintile con- Solutions of household to the energy expenditure access issue in comparedMany programmes to theand initiatives bottom are quintileim- across the 20cerning countries and rural with areas the are particularlylargest access Africa deficit.lie in the transition Differences to renewable in electricity plemented access to promote by thegender use of renew- of head of household wereaffected. also Today, found half of to all beenergy material use in energy.in a minority Its potential of on thethe continenttop 20 isaccess-deficit able energy, such countries.as Electric Africa, the Af- Africa includes traditional biomass con- considerable. Several resources are re- rican–EU Renewable Energy Cooperation sumption, which has the dual disadvan- levant in different areas, wind for exam- Programme (RECP) and AREI (African Re- • Methodologiestage of to being estimate dangerous electrification: for human health pleWithin has a bettercountries quality differentin Northern andmethodologies newable Energy can Initiative). be used International to estimate and causing environmental damages Southern regions, biomass and hydro- actors are getting increasingly attracted electrification,through sometimes deforestation. onAccess the to basis energy of powerdirect are demand-side more abundant reportsin forested from to renewables household in Africa surveys, such as China and and in other cases using issupply-side a condition for datahuman including well-being, but utility Central connections and Southern regions,and, increasingly, while solar India. off-grid Moreover, solar African sales countries data. have In most 2 the challenges of low electricity access resources are significant everywhere 1. In demonstrated political will and initial cases, demand-sideand growing measureselectricity demand of accessare a real leadthe powerto higher sector, estimatesthe share of renewaof electrification- commitments thanto renewables, supply-side with na -figures because theythreat capture to Africa’s various development. informal Obviously, types bles of couldelectricity grow to 50access % by 2030. that There can betional quite energy prevalent plans and intargets. the Severaldeveloping African states will have to combine their is the possibility for hydropower and countries have adopted renewable ener- world—includingeconomic sharing and social ofpolicies utility with energyconnections, wind capacity and to variousreach 100 GWforms capacity of self-provisiongy policies and are working such onas regulatory household 3 generators. plans in order to reach their development each, followed by solar capacity of over policies (see following graph ). FIGURE 2.1 • ShareShare of populationof population with with access access to to electricity electricity in in 2016 2016 (%) (%) 100% From 50% up to 100% From 10% up to 50% Under 10% 100% World Bank Source: Top 20 Largest Access Deficit Countries From 50% up to 100% From 10% up to 50% Under 10% Top 20 Largest Access Deficit Countries Source: World Bank 18 WAY FORWARD TO ACHIEVING REMAP 2030 PROSPECTS IN AFRICA PARTPART 33 Renewable energy in Africa: The current status TableRenewable 5 Renewable energy energy targets targets of ofAfrican African countries countries Share of Share of Planned Target year Notes total energy electricity capacity Algeria 40 2030 5% by 2017 Benin 2025 50% of rural electricity Burundi 2.1 2020 4 MW biomass, 212 MW hydropower, 40 MW PV and 10 MW wind Cabo Verde 50 2020 Côte d' Ivoire 5, 15, 20 2015, 2020, 2030 Djibouti 30 2017 (solar PV off-grid) Egypt 14 2020 (hydropower: 2.8 GW by 2020; PV: 220 MW by 2020, 700 MW by 2027; CSP: 1.1 GW by 2020, 2.8 GW by 2027; wind: 7.2 GW by 2020) Eritrea 50 n.d. From wind power Ethiopia 6 810 MW 2013 760 MW of wind, 5 600 MW of hydropower, and 450 MW of geothermal capacity addition Gabon 80 2020 Ghana 10 2020 Guinea 8 2025 6% of PV and 2% of wind Guinea-Bissau 2 2015 From solar PV Kenya 5 000 MW 2030 Double installed renewable energy capacity by 2012 and 5 000 MW African solar-powered school, © E+CO geothermal of geothermal capacity by 2030 Lesotho 35 2020 Share of rural electricity Libya 10 2020 Madagascar 54 2020 Malawi 7 2020 Mali 15 2020 3 Mauritania 20 2020 15% by 2015 (excl. biomass) Mauritius 35 2025 Morocco 42 2020 20% by 2012 Mozambique 6 000 MW na 6 000 MW of wind, solar and hydro capacity (2 000 MW each) and and others installation of 82 000 solar PV systems, 1 000 biodigesters, 3 000 wind pumping systems, 5 000 renewable-based productive systems and 100 000 solar heaters in rural areas Namibia 40 MW 2011 Excluding hydro power Niger 10 2020 Nigeria 20 2030 18% by 2025 Rwanda 90 2012 Senegal 15 2025 Seychelles 15 2030 South Africa 13 2020 Swaziland 2014 20% of all public buildings installed with solar water heaters Tunisia 25 2030 11% by 2016 Uganda 61 2017 Sources: IRENA (2015f) Zimbabwe 10 2015 10% share of biofuels in liquid fuels and REN21 (2015) 51 What are the challenges for spreading renewable energy in Africa? The implementation of renewable ener- has proven to be difficult for attracting The energy transition is happening in gy is different for each national context, investments. The AREI for example re- some African countries, although mostly 2.which is sometimes hindering the co- ceived financial support mostly from the through a top-down approach and co- ordination of pan-African energy poli- European Commission, Germany and operation between the relevant minis- cies. Governance and cooperation tools France, but there seems to be no further tries and big energy companies. The inte- (such as AREI) have been developed, but interest from other countries or poten- gration of academia, civil society, youth, many African energy actors are still not tial donors. If investments are missing, and women as well as small and medium aware about it and concrete implemen- technical and knowledge support is also sizes companies is not happening yet in tation of energy projects through those lacking in most of the African countries many places. A real participatory process initiatives is missing. Hence, the actors concerning renewable energy as well as on energy policies has to be established, of the energy field are not well coordi- climate finance and energy project ma- with concrete people-centred approa- nated and identified. This lack of clarity nagement skills. ches and strategies. Arrow-alt-circle-right Energy transition cannot happen without gional project planning and investments order to create an attractive environment the support of all those involved in the in regional electricity connections could for the potential investors. A national/lo- energy sector, starting with consumers. contribute to minimising climate-related cal regulatory agency would be a solution The gaps between people’s need and in- risks. Secondly, a small local economy in and could allow a transparent framework stitutional capacities may grow without remote communities can result in a lack to attract investment and ensure security this participatory and decentralised ap- of qualified renewable energy electrici- for energy projects (energy planning, insu- proach. Top-down governance of the ener- ans and insufficient access to technical rance of skills and human resources etc.) 7. gy system goes, along with a centralized support centres. Therefore, the economy approach to electrification in many cases, may depend on imported technology and Finally, one of the biggest challenges where access to energy is assumed to be imported technical skills. In general, one remains the energy demand growth: so- synonymous to a grid connection. Howe- of the main technical challenges is to de- lutions to enable economic growth and ver, the quality of the grid is sometimes not sign the renewable energy technologies extend access to modern energy are es- allowing a stable energy access. The very for a small-scale local context to provide sential. Electricity demand in Africa is 4 nature of renewable energy, being locally autonomy to remote regions. Innovation projected to triple by 2030, which means available, as well as the energy access situ- is already playing a crucial role in this, that the power sector will require invest- ation with many people in rural or remote producing renewable mini-grids and bat- ments of USD 70 billion per year on ave- areas lacking access to energy make a per- tery storage. rage between now and 2030. 8 Renew- fect case for decentralized solutions. The able energy can be a solution to cover extent to which decentralized solutions The renewable energy market in Africa this growing demand. are incorporated in national energy poli- is very new and has to be developed cies differs across the continent. further. In the Sub-Saharan region, the connection of households to the power Beside the above-mentioned challenges grid is rare and unreliable, and African in the energy transition, the question of citizens have the longest duration of technology is a main factor in the chan- power outages in the world. Moreover, ces of success of renewables in Africa. the relative electricity prices are still According to the IRENA Africa 2030: very high for Africans (4000 % of GDP per Roadmap for Renewable Energy Future, capita) 5.