ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT SECTOR OVERVIEW
POWER ON BY ELSKE JOUBERT
An optimal energy mix for Africa relies on a variety of generation technologies. In a 2015 report, McKinsey estimated that if every country in Africa had to build to meet their current electricity demand, the region would require about $490-billion of capital for new generating capacity – and a further $345-billion for transmission and distribution infrastructure, says Paul Grota, Director: Industrial, Power & Project Medupi, WSP, Power, Africa. “The good news then is that despite the commodity price challenges over the last seven to eight years, there is still significant investor interest within the African power sector(s),” he says.
HERE ARE 3 MAJOR TRENDS ENERGISING CONTINUED INVESTMENT INTO AFRICA’S POWER SECTORS:
CARBON REDUCTION TARGETS
MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH
SOLIDIFY INTEREST IN CLEANER
DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSMISSION
ENERGY SOURCES
INFRASTRUCTURE
Clean coal will remain a key base-load
Closely linked to renewable energy, regional
power source for a number of countries
integration increasingly dominates African
across sub-Saharan Africa, as the
policy-makers’ agendas and donor finance
reality is that governments within these
institutions. The focus is on developing
countries are faced with the trilemma of
infrastructure that strengthens the existing
providing affordable, decarbonised and
power pools and enables cross-border or
secure electricity.
intra-continental power trading.
We are still seeing investor interest in gas
Renewables continue to play a vital
especially, which is still less carbon intense
role in the power mix for most African
Investor confidence, however, requires
than coal. Gas is gaining momentum with
countries. Renewable power plants hold
the recent finds in southern Africa where
great opportunities for communities and/
gas-to-power offers a suitable base-load
or industrial activities as these plants can
resource that can supplement coal-fired
be deployed more quickly and close to the
power in the medium- to long-term.
source of demand through microgeneration.
GAS-TO-POWER POTENTIAL IN AFRICA IS BALLOONING
64 TOP500 10th Edition
certainty around state-led resource programmes, prioritisation of these programmes and policy stability, and that investors have an understanding of local market issues and operating environments.
