Page 9 - AfrElec Week 46 2022
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AfrElec INVESTMENT AfrElec
Renewable investments at record
low in Africa despite positive
global trend, BNEF report shows
AFRICA INVESTMENT in renewable energy in Africa On a positive note, the report observes that
plummeted to the lowest level recorded in the more nations laid out long-term clean power
past decade, despite a global upward trend and plans in 2022 – 86% of the African countries, in
the continent’s abundant natural potential, contrast to the 57% recorded in 2019.
reveals a report released by the research group However, the implementation of such pro-
BloombergNEF (BNEF) during COP27 in jects has been puny, hindered by inadequate
Sharm-El-Sheikh. policies and weak governance.
The study, titled “Scaling Up Renewable The report identifies three main pain points
Energy in Africa”, finds that only $2.6bn was that limit clean energy deployment on the conti-
invested in new wind, solar, geothermal and nent and should be promptly addressed: “lack of
other renewable energy projects in 2021; this consistent clean power procurement practices;
amount is far lower than the $9bn recorded in poor planning around electricity access and grid
2012 and 2018. expansion efforts; lack of knowledge of clean
Since 2018, investment in renewables had energy opportunities from domestic investors”.
hovered at around $4bn. The amount regis- “The ingredients are there for Africa to be a
tered in 2021 makes up only 0.6 % of the $434bn major market for clean energy growth, includ-
invested in renewable energy worldwide. Invest- ing outstanding natural resources and massive
ments in renewables grew by 9% worldwide demand. But incomplete policy regimes and
between 2020 and 2021 but fell 35% in Africa. reluctant investors continue to keep investment
The BNEF report finds that investments are levels below where they could and really should
“highly concentrated in a handful of markets”, be,” said Luiza Demoro, head of energy transi-
namely South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and tion research at BNEF.
Kenya, which together account for three-quar- In addition to the year-round exceptionally
ters of the continent’s total. strong sunlight that – if harnessed properly
Africa still relies mostly on fossil fuels to – could make Africa a global leader in solar
satisfy its increasing demand: gas, oil and coal energy production, another COP27 report
accounted for 75% of the electricity produced in revealed that the continent has the potential to
2021; wind and solar combined make up only 5% satisfy up to 10% of the global green hydrogen
of the total. This dependence is a cause of great market by 2050, as BNE Intellinews recently
concern at the moment, with the prices for gas reported.
and oil severely affected by the war in Ukraine.
Week 46 16•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
