By Abdel Monem Fawzi
Most African countries will be seriously affected by the socioeconomic consequences of the global economic slowdown triggered by the Covid-19. Even before the pandemic hit, an increasing number of African countries were in debt and financially stressed.
The problem is power shortages, restricted access to electricity and dependence on biomass for fuel are undermining efforts to reduce poverty. Africa currently has a substantial energy deficit, which is a major obstacle to its growth and development. Forty-three per cent of people in Africa – around 560 million in total – have no access to electricity. There is a severe lack of access to clean, non-polluting cooking facilities. About 80 per cent of Africans rely on traditional biomass, mainly wood fuel and charcoal, for cooking. As a result, about 600,000 people in the region die each year of household air pollution, of which nearly 50 per cent are children under the age of 5. Sustainable Development Goal 7 aims to close the energy access gap and “ensure access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all” by 2030. Achieving this goal in the required timeframe is a daunting task for African governments given the massive energy deficit.
Moreover, climate change poses a serious threat to Africa’s energy security due to the high dependence on traditional biomass. This is a key driver of deforestation, which further exacerbates climate change through CO2 emissions. Hydropower is another major source of energy in a number of African countries particularly for generating electricity. The effects of climate change on hydroelectric energy have already been witnessed with the recent droughts across the region that affected production capacity in many countries, resulting in blackouts and load shedding.
Although climate change presents challenges to African transformation, the resulting increased temperatures and irradiance offer opportunities to harness Africa’s abundant renewable energy (RE) resources.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) unveiled findings of a study titled ‘Energy Prices in Africa: Transition Towards Clean Energy for Africa’s Industrialisation’.
The presentation, which was made during a virtual ministerial meeting, indicates that 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and 900 million have no access to clean cooking fuel. Meanwhile, electricity access rates in 24 countries are below 50 per cent.
“There’s no way Africa can build forward better if we do not make adequate investments in energy and ensure affordable access for all,” said ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe. The UN Under-Secretary-General urged countries to ensure that there’s cost reflective pricing in the energy sector.
The report cites Liberia, Malawi, Central African Republic, Burundi, and South Sudan as having stagnated or reversed in electricity access. Countries like Nigeria, DRC and Ethiopia reportedly have the biggest electricity access deficits.
“Access to cheap and clean energy is an essential component of Africa’s transformation and industrialization,” said Oliver Chinganya, Director of the African Centre for Statistics (ACS), who moderated the session.
The ACS Director said, “In the context of AfCFTA deployment and implementation, supplying economies with affordable fuel is integral to supporting actions for faster achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063.”
The report deplores the fact that Africa relies mainly on fossil fuels and biomes instead of diversifying its primary energy supply, given its plethora of resources (renewable and non-renewable).
“Households use 86 per cent of biofuel and waste energy for cooking, while the transport sector consumes 78 per cent of oil. Natural gas is mainly used in industrial sector.”
In his presentation, Anthony Monganeli Mehlwana, an ECA Economic Affairs Officer, highlighted the “urgent need to invest in electricity infrastructure, diversify electricity supply and embrace modern renewables.”
In terms of prices, Mehlwana said, “Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) or fossil power plants is more expensive” than wind and solar.
“Onshore wind costs $59 per MW while utility solar PV costs $79 per MW. Meanwhile, the cost of coal is $109 per MW and natural gas stands at $74 per MW.”
He pointed out that “high energy production costs, transmission and distribution losses (18-25 per cent) means that utilities need to be constantly bailed out and subsidies implemented for users.”
At this rate, and according to the SDG 7 tracking report, Africa will not meet the SDG 7 targets due to limited supply and access to electricity. About $40 billion worth of investments per year is needed to meet the continent’s energy needs.
The report recommends that countries must provide an enabling environment for crowding-in private sector investments in electricity sector; apply cost reflective tariffs while paying attention to efficient generation of electricity to lower the costs; and provide incentives and mechanisms to increase the share of renewable energy in the power systems.
The study also highlights the need for countries to introduce natural gas as a transitionary fuel to replace coal and facilitate full deployment of renewables.
The webinar was an opportunity for the ECA to urge ministers to play a role in increasing energy investments, and paying attention to the determinants of energy prices, lowering of cost of production and tariffs-setting methodology.
It was a joint initiative of ACS and ECA’s Private Sector Development and Finance Division, within the framework of a ministerial series by the ECA Price Watch Centre.
However, the prices of RE systems have been falling steadily, the initial capital cost is still high and is a major barrier to entry into the market. Innovative business models could be used to lower costs. A good example is M-KOPA Solar in Kenya, which brings affordable solar energy to off-grid communities using mobile phone technology. African governments can also accelerate private investment in energy systems by improving the policy and regulatory frameworks, and by reforming highly-indebted, corrupt and inefficient state-owned power utilities.
