Decarbonizing Africa with Renewable Energy

By Frederick Opoku Agyekum

Almost all African countries have signed the Paris Agreement and are committed to making the transition to a net-zero, as they tackle human development necessities such as reducing poverty, improving living standards and increasing energy access to meet the SDGs.

Nevertheless, Africa’s developmental goals will not be fully attained without supplying sustainable, reliable, affordable and modern energy. According to a World Bank report, the average level of electricity consumption per person in Africa (excluding South Africa) is around 500 kilowatt hours (kWh), which compares to about 13,000 kWh in the United States and 6,500 kWh in Europe.?In addition, the unit cost of electricity in many Sub Saharan African countries is about double the global average of ($0.14 per kWh) and far higher than in emerging economies such as Bangladesh ($0.06 per kWh) and India ($0.08 per kWh).This disparity really becomes very higher when compared to the income level of an average African.

The International Energy Agency also reports that fossil fuel subsidies in 2014 amounted to $490 billion while?the renewable energy sector received only $140 billion, meaning governments worldwide have been handing nearly hundreds of billions of US dollars in public subsidies to the coal, gas, and oil industries. Ending these subsidies will really solve the carbon crisis, save gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, and help make clean energy cheaper than fossil fuels.

As clean energy transformation gains momentum within the continent, new ecosystems are forming and new technologies are emerging. These developments are actually helping to grow renewables, reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, and create new markets for carbon and other by-products as part of an increasingly circular economy.

Although the African continent can ‘leapfrog’ the highly carbon intensive path followed by earlier developers, adaptation of decentralized mini grids can also overcome many of the constraints faced when absorbing renewable energy on the grid. The current decline in the costs of utility-scale renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind, and energy storage technologies such as batteries has stimulated Africa’s hope on moving straight to 100 per cent renewable power. Under the most stringent climate control scenario modeled by van der Zwaan, et al., electricity generation in Africa will be about 75 per cent renewables by 2050.

According to 2020 projections by the International Energy Agency (IEA) the average ‘levelised cost of energy’ (LCOE) for utility scale solar PV and onshore wind is now often below gas (average LCOEs being $56/megawatt hour (MWh), $50/MWh and $71/MWh, respectively,) and records fall every year for lower electricity pricing from solar and wind projects. In addition, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that the cost of lithium-ion batteries fell 87 per cent between 2010 and 2019 and further dramatic cost reductions are expected.

The challenges faced by African countries to decarbonize its electricity grids are fundamentally different to those of wealthier economies with mature energy infrastructure and relatively flat demand. In contrast, network infrastructure is often squandered in Sub Saharan African countries and there is therefore massive demand of high quality grid infrastructure, sophisticated technology to manage power networks, and ample renewable energy generation sources. It is therefore estimated that Africa will need investments of between $41 billion and $55 billion per year up to 2030, up from the current level of around $8 billion. The need to manage national hostilities, varying energy prices, uncoordinated grid codes, divergent geopolitical interests, different policy regimes and attitudes towards private sector investment, and other challenges, affect the viability of regional power pools within the Sub Saharan African regions.

In spite of the continents tremendous renewable power resources, access to electricity supply is often unreliable, necessitating widespread and costly private use of back-up generators running on diesel or gasoline. The African energy transition will therefore require time-bound investments in clean technologies with an urgency of scaling up renewable generation as quickly as possible.?

In conclusion, if the international community wishes to accelerate the pace of electricity decarbonization in Africa, it should concentrate its efforts on supporting the investments that will bring forward the day when new investments in gas are no longer needed, with massive support for regulatory and market reforms, national transmissions & distribution infrastructure, improved power network management capabilities and early adoption of energy storage.

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