Both approaches have multiple declinations and while each one carries its own advantages and disadvantages, they can also co-exist, suggesting that there is ample room for manoeuvre in the design of a country strategy. African countries receive a very high number of annual sunshine hours and the average solar irradiation is quite fairly distributed (though areas of Sahara, Sahel, the south-west tip of the continent and the horn of Africa are exceptionally sunny). There is a growing body of knowledge on the potential use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools for renewable energy infrastructure planning and—particularly for Africa—electrification pathways. [29] South Africa experiences seasonal flows and frequent droughts, which pose obstacles to the hydropower success.
Not all countries can count on the same renewable sources, and some of them are unpredictable, or highly variable over time (e.g. This is provides, in effect, a 28% discount on the photovoltaic solar system.

Adapting to this reality will mean innovating and optimizing production processes, and finding smart synergies (e.g. algae). This means that the development of renewables has to be planned in a way that maximises generation where the single resources are available, balancing at the same time their variability at the level of the grid. Part of the problem is that we have little knowledge of the sector. Hydropower plants with little or no water accumulation are called run-of river. From the perspective of power generation, this technology has the key advantage of being dispatchable, which makes it a good complement to intermittent renewable power. [29] The Eastern Cape province the most hydro-potential in the country. Columns (i) and (ii) indicate that some countries lack quite basic requisites, such as the existence of a legal framework for renewable power producers, the availability of detailed natural resource assessments, or the presence of a clear renewable energy policy direction. Depending on the size, digesters can serve industrial uses as well as residential complexes.

Last but not least there is the issue of funding, as these projects require large sums of upfront capital. Smart meters and fast-responding batteries may have an important role to play in this sense, although their uptake in SSA is currently constrained by the costs of equipment. [32] Biomass can be used as an direct energy source as heating or cooking fuel, or cab be burned to generate electricity. [36] Geothermal heat pumps tap into the ground to use this resource as a source of energy. Essentially, this can be achieved with feed-in tariffs schemes (FITs) or through auctions. Establishing the sustainability of biomass production is necessary to be able to determine if biomass can be considered “renewable”.
Targets for renewables in selected countries, Share of renewables in total power generation (%), Source RISE website, accessed January 2018. There is a huge gap between this potential and actual hydropower production in SSA: of the estimated 280 GW potential capacity, only 10% is currently tapped (International Energy Agency 2014). In SSA, they may have a competitive advantage over multilateral development banks, who are bound to increasingly strict requirements that make them less reliable and more expensive than other lenders (this is the case of the World Bank that, after more or less a decade of stall in the 90s re-engaged with large hydropower in Africa but only after updating their standards and guidelines on social and environmental impact) (International Rivers 2013). First, as African forests are severely threatened, modernizing the bioenergy value chain (and adding value to the sector) could significantly contribute to better protect them. [41] They currently have 30MW of solar PV operational and have another 185MW scheduled. Although it is clear that its characteristics make it perfect, in theory, to reach the twofold objective of increasing large-scale power capacity while balancing an increasing share of renewables, African hydropower developers are facing some practical challenges.

Cite as. No woman should give birth in the dark.

Yet access to electricity – essential to so many medical interventions including night-time emergency response – is rarely an issue to which health policy-makers pay attention. bioethanol and biodiesel) in the transport sector of SSA countries is also significant.

Compared to solar potential, wind potential is less fairly distributed across the continent. Solar power has an integral role to play in Africa’s sustainable energy future as sunshine is abundant and solar panels are getting cheaper.

Unfortunately however, today’s reliance on bioenergy in the primary energy mix of SSA (Chap. They are South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

In Africa, the best wind quality can be found in the rugged regions of Sahara and Sahel (all countries, including the most central Niger, Chad, and Sudan), along the coast, and in mountainous areas of Southern Africa (particularly South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia), and in some parts of East Africa, especially in the horn of Africa and along the Great Rift Valley (Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania) (International Renewable Energy Agency 2015). One important, but often overlooked, building block of health service delivery is the availability of electricity in health facilities. Imagine losing someone you love because there was no petrol in the hospital generator or because the generator won’t start hence, critical hospital equipment could not be used to provide treatment. We are designed to ensure flexibility, meaning that it can be initiated with relatively small contributions and scaled up as funding becomes available and additional needs are identified. Nat Energy 2:946. In: Think GeoEnergy—Geotherm. © 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Yet, an estimated tens of thousands of health centers across low- and middle-income countries lack electricity. ESI Africa (2016) Exploration of geothermal in the East Africa region. The variability of renewable loads can be forecasted and subsequently managed by acting on the supply side (i.e.

This means that large scale maps—like those included in this book—need further processing in order to produce accurate estimates or to serve for real project siting. In many cases, human rights abuse and environmental damage are common in these mines, and while the problem is well known, the global demand is so high (and for some materials, reserves are so rare) that buyers mostly turn a blind eye on them (Levin Sources 2017). South Africa, the continent’s most advanced economy, is a clear leader in renewable energy policy and projects, shows research (pdf) by BloombergNEF. In Africa, all of the wind power installed is found onshore because offshore solutions are generally more expensive (in fact, almost all of the offshore wind globally installed is located in Europe).

[8] The decentralized investment opportunity provides South Africa with the resources to overcome its current energy crisis. In: Bloomberg.com. [41] juwi South Africa is a renewable energy company who is also one of the world's leading renewable energy companies. Over-reliance on hydropower adds to the weight of rain-fed agriculture in tying the economic performance of SSA economies to changes in rainfall levels (in contrast, for instance, with North African ones) (Barrios Cobos et al. [40] Mulilo is a South African company who provides clean energy such as wind and solar to the national grid. It has become normal for African hospitals to reject patients who were brought in for emergency procedures because there is no electricity in the hospital. The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) is a transformative, Africa-owned and Africa-led inclusive effort to accelerate and scale up the harnessing of the continent’s huge renewable energy potential. The challenge of governments is therefore to increase the confidence of investors through policy and financial de-risking measures. The vision is to ensure healthcare for all. building up a reliable mix of technologies, introducing storage, or designing hybrid power plants) as well as on the demand side (e.g. Deign J (2017) Will Molten Salt Outdo batteries for grid-tied storage? This increases prospects for south-south cooperation and trade, which should bring higher availability and affordability of equipment as well as accumulated experience in renewable energy policy and business in the context of developing energy markets. 2012). The total hydropower installed capacity in Africa is about ten times that of solar or wind, with new investments advancing with a more or less constant growth (Fig. Solar is particularly promising in terms of geographical distribution: albeit with varying potentials, this type of energy could be harnessed virtually everywhere in Africa. Of all off-grid options small hydro has the lowest electricity generation price, and it is probably the easiest to design, operate, and maintain. Tsagas I (2017) What is the business case for energy storage in Africa? CNN BB (2017) How to make energy from crashing waves.

[17] Solar energy in South Africa is primarily based in PV and CSP. Considering the speed of urbanization in Africa it is clear that this type of solution will have a role to play in the future of many countries. Most hospitals own generators but these generators are noisy, generate dangerous emissions and are expensive to maintain. One of the enabling conditions for variable renewables is storage. Renewable Energy in Africa is a huge opportunity to allow for a better standard of living for a large part of current and future population in Africa. On large scales, valorising waste is not only a means of advancing renewables and energy efficiency, but also a clever way of solving the huge problem of waste disposal. CNN. CHP production holds significant potential also when it comes to the residues of wood processing and logging (IRENA estimates a total of 20 GW of potential power generation capacity from this sector), however this type of bioenergy is not yet widely adopted and there are only a few wood based power plants (about a dozen) scattered across the continent (International Renewable Energy Agency 2015).