Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy
Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The future of electricity supply and delivery on the continent of Africa represents one of the thorniest
challenges facing professionals in the global energy, economics, finance, environmental, and
philanthropic communities.
Roughly 600 million people in Africa lack any access to electricity. If this deficiency is not solved,
extreme poverty for many Africans is virtually assured for the foreseeable future, as it is widely
recognized that economic advancement cannot be achieved in the 21st Century without good electricity
supply. Yet, if Africa were to electrify in the same manner pursued in developed economies around the
world during the 20th Century, the planet’s global carbon budget would be vastly exceeded, greatly
exacerbating the worldwide damages from climate change.
Moreover, due to low purchasing power in most African economies and fiscal insolvency of most African
utilities, it is unclear exactly how the necessary infrastructure investments can be deployed to bring
ample quantities of power – especially zero-carbon power – to all Africans, both those who currently are
unconnected to any grid as well as those who are now served by expensive, high-emitting, limited and
unreliable electricity supply.
With the current population of 1.3 billion people expected to double by 2050, the above-noted
challenges associated with the African electricity sector may well get substantially worse than they
already are – unless new approaches to infrastructure planning, development, finance and operation
can be mobilized and propagated across the continent.
This paper presents a summary of the present state and possible futures for the African electricity
sector. A synthesis of an ever-growing body of research on electricity in Africa, this paper aims to
provide the reader a thorough and balanced context as well as general conclusions and
recommendations to better inform and guide decision-making and action. [TRUNCATED]This paper was developed as part of a broader initiative
undertaken by the Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISE) at
Boston University to explore the future of the global
electricity industry.
This ISE initiative – a collaboration with the Global Energy
Interconnection and Development Cooperation Organization
(GEIDCO) of China and the Center for Global Energy Policy
within the School of International and Public Affairs at
Columbia University – was generously enabled by a grant
from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and
contributions of the above funders and partners in this
research