The scramble for Africa again?
Is the UK Responsible For Spearheading a New Scramble for Africa?
In recent months, the Conservatives have announced the UK’s commitment to meeting net-zero limits by 2050. And this remains an undeniably positive goal that the country should rally behind with enthusiasm.
But are the Government's plans for energy sovereignty actually possible? Are we moving in the right direction when it comes to solving the energy crisis and providing clean energy for all?
Is “Energy Sovereignty” Possible?
Personally, I think that the suggestion of “energy sovereignty” is nonsensical.
This is because the UK government is currently in talks with an Essex-based company called Xlinks which aims to build an enormous onshore wind and solar farm in North Africa which will supply electricity solely to the UK.
This is a huge project that will take electricity from North Africa to power 7 million British homes and ultimately supply 8% of the UK's overall energy needs. Once this is built, the project will be five times larger than all existing wind and solar farms in Morocco combined.
And the total amount of land used for this project will span an incredible 1,500 square kilometres equivalent to the area of Singapore, Saint Lucia, and Aruba combined!
The electricity would then need to be transported 4,000 kilometres to the UK under the Atlantic Ocean using the world’s longest subsea cables which would be buried up to a depth of 700 metres below the ocean floor.
Although this might appear to be a positive development on a surface-level analysis, the fact that the cables would supply only Britain goes entirely against the spirit of mutual cooperation and global interdependence.
Why Does This Plan Make Energy Sovereignty Impossible?
It’s not necessarily the plan itself that makes energy sovereignty nonsensical, but the country needs to move forward with its new onshore wind policies quickly if it hopes to reach energy sovereignty in any meaningful way.?
There have been talks of making onshore wind farms easier to build but we are unsure of what Rishi's exact plans will be, but we do know that he has previously not shown much enthusiasm for them. If the building of onshore wind is to be made easier, the policies required to make this happen need to be enacted with confidence and without roadblocks to prevent Britain relying on other countries for its energy.?
The government has recently softened its approach to onshore wind, but it seems strange to build the largest onshore wind and solar farm of its kind in Africa and to extract and then bring back 100% of the green energy to the UK without first making Africa self-sufficient.
But surely a continued reliance on offshore wind and solar energy doesn’t suggest a meaningful move toward energy sovereignty. Are we just kicking the theoretical can down the road when it comes to renewables? Are we moving quickly enough to secure a viable future for our own country and others?
Whether the project is ultimately funded by the UK taxpayer via the UK government’s latest Contract for Differences (CFD) scheme or funded privately, it would not provide the UK with “energy sovereignty” as the UK would still be dependent on Africa for 8% of its electricity with accompanying commercial and political risks.
Is This the New Scramble For Africa?
I may sound like I’m sitting on a privileged soapbox when I talk about this, and perhaps I am.?But it seems incredibly unjust to be exploiting Africa for its resources in 2022 when the continent is still struggling to get on its feet.
At present 43% of people in Africa (approximately 600 million people) still lack access to electricity. Although Britain’s energy struggles are no laughing matter, our issues pale in comparison to Africa’s consistent battle against poverty.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that electricity is the lifeblood of any economy, and Africa was already off track to reach its United Nations target of universal access to modern energy by 2030 at the beginning of 2020.
Although Africa has the most amount of solar energy potential in the world, Africa has less than 1% of the world’s solar projects. Therefore, Africa desperately needs to develop its solar and wind industry to meet the needs of the current and future citizens of Africa.
If we bring our discussion back to the theoretical Moroccan wind farm, it’s interesting to note that the country gets 90% of its own energy from fossil fuels and only 10% comes from renewables.
Therefore, Morocco itself is currently worse off than the UK (which currently gets 43% of its electricity from renewables) but has signed a deal that prioritises the UK’s energy needs above the needs of its own citizens and the other citizens of Africa who desperately need access to clean energy.
Can we in good conscience continue scrambling for African resources while we ignore the problems that the continent faces?
Would Any of The Government’s Policies Actually Help With the Climate Emergency?
Realistically, Climate Change affects us all and we are not in a competition to look better than other countries or exploit other nations for their resources or land.
Instead, we all need to do our part to make the necessary changes to avoid irreversible damage to our planet.
As it stands, the government’s policies aren’t nearly serious enough to fix the Climate Crisis, and to reach net zero as quickly as possible we must use all the tools available to us.
If this requires us to look at more onshore wind and/or solar farms then so be it.
Why We Must Act Now…
In my opinion, scaling up the number of renewable energy projects is a price that we simply must pay.
I believe that we should continue to build more onshore wind and solar projects until we have fully reached net zero.
At that stage, we can afford to be picky about which clean energy projects we prefer and make moves to scale back onshore wind and solar projects.?
It’s a harsh reality, but our grandchildren won’t thank us for moving slowly to reinstate onshore wind farms when they will have to live with the type of severe weather that we're only starting to get a glimpse of now.
Our only focus should be on tackling the climate emergency and preventing irreversible environmental changes that could bring untold hardship to countries around the world.
It’s hoped that new environmental policies and an increased focus on onshore wind should help this
The time to act is now and only one question remains.?
Is the government finally ready to listen?