Page 9 - AfrElec Week 39 2021

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

New wind trade body aims to

harness Africa’s wind potential

AFRICA WIND developers in Africa have created Africa said in a recent report said that Africa had 59,000
WindPower (AWP) as a forum to improve rela- GW of technical onshore and offshore wind
tions between governments and private investors potential, enough to meet the continent’s energy
and to expand the wind sector across the conti- demand 250 times over.
nent, which currently has just 7GW of capacity Meanwhile, over 600mn African do not have
and is woefully underdeveloped. access to reliable electricity supplies, making
AWP aims to act as a platform for dialogue electricity a key component in sustainable devel-
between the wind industry and government opment in Africa.
stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of scaling up Building out wind farms that utilize Africa’s
and accelerating wind project development and vast wind resource will drive investment, create
deployment across the entire African continent. clean energy jobs and critical infrastructure, and
The new trade body said that poor public-pri- help support thriving local economies in line
vate sector collaboration was the main barrier to with the region’s Sustainable Development Goal.
investment in African, and it was potentially The private sector is present across the conti-
hindering the flow of climate finance into Africa nent. For example, Lekela Power Taiba N’Diaye
power sector. wind farm is the largest in West Africa, account-
Africa is only tapping into 0.01% of its wind ing for 15% of Senegal’s energy mix. It avoids
resource, with over 7 GW of installed capacity as 6mn tonnes of C02 and power the homes of 2
of the end of 2020, led by South Africa, according million people, Lekela Power CEO Chris Anta-
to figures from the Global Wind Energy Council nopoulos told the launch event, hosted by the
(GWEC), GWEC.
Current installed wind energy capacity in The energy transition has so far proved to be
Africa helps to avoid 10.7mn tonnes of CO2 slower in Africa than in developed countries, as
emissions annually – equivalent to taking 2.3 investment risk is high, transmission networks
million passenger cars off the road. weak and state regulatory regimes undeveloped.
The new body, which was founded by govern- “Africa has the opportunity to leapfrog tradi-
ments, technology vendors and developers, aims tional fossil-fuel based energy systems to achieve
to harness the existing for investment appetite a robust renewable energy mix. Wind Power is a
already in place and to improve government pol- vital part of this clean energy transition allowing
icy and regulation. for decentralized, affordable and clean energy. In
The body aims to unlock more private addition, Africa boasts fantastic wind resource
investment from both within and outside of the which can power the continent 250 times over
continent. while creating jobs and enabling the develop-
The main problem facing wind is that natu- ment of local industries. GWEC’s Africa Wind-
ral gas has continued expand as a feedstock for Power will bring various stakeholders together
power generation targeted at industrial custom- to decrease the knowledge gap and increase
ers. Meanwhile, established fuels such as coal, the development and deployment of wind
heavy fuel oil, and diesel still retain their share power throughout the continent,” said Wangari
of the energy mix. Muchiri, Africa WindPower Coordinator.™
The International Finance Corporation (IFC)

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