Energy
RENEWABLES will be the driving force that expands the Nigerian and other African countries’ electricity sector this decade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has shown in its ‘Africa Energy Outlook 2022’
The IEA in the new report, said Africa’s rich renewable resources, also offer huge potential to produce green hydrogen, with potential production equaling the continent’s entire current energy demand, at internationally competitive price points by 2030.
The report, which was accessed by The Nation, however, said investment in these areas must more than double over current levels, exceeding $190 billion each year from 2026 to 2030, with two-thirds going to clean energy.
IEA said this would require stepping up investment by development banks and, in part, supporting industrial development by expanding exploitation of the continent’s extensive and still untapped natural gas reserves.
“The immediate and absolute priority for Africa and the international community is to bring modern and affordable energy to all Africans,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.
Birol added: “Our new report shows this can be achieved by the end of this decade through annual investment of $25 billion, the same amount needed to build just one new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal a year.”
According to the IEA report, Africa is home to 60 per cent of the best solar resources worldwide, but currently holds just one per cent of solar PV capacity.
“Solar power is already the cheapest source of power in many parts of Africa and is set to outcompete all other sources continent- wide by 2030,” IEA said.
The report also presented a ‘Sustainable Africa Scenario’ in which renewables – including solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal – account for over 80 per cent of new power generation capacity added by 2030.
This expansion of renewables allows Nigeria and other African countries to achieve their key energy-related development goals, including universal access to modern energy services by 2030 and the full implementation of their climate pledges (nationally determined contributions) to that year.
Thus, despite enormous challenges, the report said Nigeria and other African countries stand to benefit from declining clean energy technology costs and shifting global investment patterns that will help them attract increasing flows of climate finance.
It stated that many countries in the continent will have to prioritise renewable energy projects, rather than conventional oil and gas-fired alternatives, in order to attract investors and ensure project financing.
The report said in Africa specifically, it has become harder for fossil fuel schemes to raise funding, as more attention is being given to renewable energy opportunities across the continent.
-The Nation
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Tags: Fatih Birol LNG renewable energy
