I.A.M - Magazine - Page 21
LEADERS CORNER
Africa possesses staggering renewable energy potential:
10,000 GW of solar (only 1% is tapped), 350 GW of hydroelectric, 110 GW of wind, and 15 GW of geothermal
energy. The solar capacity alone exceeds twice the
combined electricity generation of China and the United
States. Harnessing this potential could provide electricity
to 600 million Africans currently without power (83% of
the global total). The key challenge remains connecting this
vast generation capacity to load centers across the
continent. This challenge is what drives the African
Continental Power Masterplan (CMP) - a strategic
blueprint – which is spearheaded by the African Union
Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa's
Development (AUDA-NEPAD) with the strong support of
the AfDB.
The CMP seeks to identify subsystems of intra-regional
and inter-regional power systems network that would
underpin the physical infrastructure, and lay groundwork
for the envisaged African Single Electricity Market.
The excellent irradiation conditions in Morocco, Egypt,
Tunisia, Botswana, Namibia, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina
Faso, and Mauritania create ideal conditions for solar
power generation, while the strong, consistent winds of
Northern and Southern Africa hold tremendous potential
for wind power generation.
Meanwhile, despite increasing variability due to climate
change, the river basins of Senegal, Niger, Nile, Congo,
Limpopo, and Zambezi offer abundant hydropower
resources. And beneath the Eastern Africa Rift Valley lies
significant geothermal potential waiting to be tapped.
Additionally, significant fossil fuel reserves are found in
countries like Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Angola, South
Africa and Egypt. For example, Africa accounts for over
7% of the global proved natural gas reserves and
between 2011-2018, gas finds in Egypt, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Senegal, and Mauritania accounted for nearly
40% of global gas discoveries. More recently, substantial
gas finds have also been reported in Cote d'Ivoire and
Namibia.
Complementary Resources
The key to understanding Africa's energy future lies in its
geography. The continent's energy resources are
distributed in patterns that almost seem designed for
regional cooperation.
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Africa's high renewable energy generation potential,
combined with the fragmented nature of small, isolated
power grids across the continent, created a compelling
need for power trade and regional electricity integration.
In response, Africa's Regional Economic Communities
(RECs) have established five interconnected Power
