Page 11 - AfrElec Week 06

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
a light manufacturing hub in Africa and middle-income economy by 2025.
Ethiopia recently unveiled a 10-year energy roadmap that aims to increase energy generation four-fold using various energy sources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, co- generation and solar power.
How to boost hydro in Africa
Africa has only realised about 11% of its hydro potential, with 1.4GW set to be added to the current capacity of 36GW.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has identified hydro as both a major potential power source and a driver of economic and social development across Africa.
Speaking at a round table in Abidjan,
the bank’s Acting Vice President for Power Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Wale Shonibare, said: “As a renewable energy source offering design options from run- of-river plants to pumped storage plants, hydropower in its different forms adds significant value to power systems and the reliability of energy supply.”
He added that the AfDB was committed to supporting new hydropower projects through its New Deal on Energy for Africa, and had already invested close to $1bn over the past ten years to support 1.4 GW of expected installed capacity.
Close to 600mn Africans currently lack access to electricity, and providing reliable, sustainable power supplies is key to poverty reduction and economic growth.
“As the Bank’s emphasis on renewable energy sources is growing, so does its interest in hydropower. In order to achieve universal access to energy, it is not enough to bring online the amount of generation capacity required to cover energy demand, it is also essential to do this in a sustainable way that assures power system reliability,” Shonibare said.
Eddie Rich, Chief Executive of IHA,
said it was important to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment to incentivise new projects, while ensuring that both greenfield and rehabilitation projects are built and operated in accordance with internationally recognised guidelines and assessment tools.
Sabati Cissé, Côte d’Ivoire’s director- general for petroleum and energy, said: “Africa has enormous hydropower potential, which we will need if we want to achieve national policy priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
R E N E W A B L E S
Green energy to double
The share of renewables in global power should more than double by 2030 to advance the global energy transformation, achieve sustainable development goals and a pathway to climate safety, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Renewable electricity should supply 57% of global power by the end of the decade, up from 26% today.
The Agency’s data shows that annual renewable energy investment needs to double from around $330bn today, to close to $750bn to deploy renewable energy at the speed required. Much of the needed investment
can be met by redirecting planned fossil fuel investment. Close to $10 trillion of non- renewables related energy investments are planned to 2030, risking stranded assets and increasing the likelihood of exceeding the world’s 1.5 degree carbon budget this decade.
“We have entered the decade of renewable energy action, a period in which the energy system will transform at unparalleled speed,”
said IRENA Director-General Francesco
La Camera. “To ensure this happens, we
must urgently address the need for stronger enabling policies and a significant increase in investment over the next 10 years. Renewables hold the key to sustainable development and should be central to energy and economic planning all over the world.”
“Renewable energy solutions are affordable, readily available and deployable at scale,” continued Mr. La Camera. “To advance a low- carbon future, IRENA will further promote knowledge exchange, strengthen partnerships and work with all stakeholders, from private sector leaders to policy makers, to catalyse action on the ground. We know it is possible,” he concluded, “but we must all move faster.”
Additional investments bring significant external cost savings, including minimising significant losses caused by climate change as a result of inaction. Savings could amount to between $1.6 trillion and $3.7 trillion annually by 2030, three to seven times higher than investment costs for the energy transformation.
IRENA
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