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RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA-CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, WAY FORWARD

Mr. Babu RAM Chief Power Engineer South Africa Regional Office African Development Bank

PART I INTRODUCTION Across the board, it is now accepted that climate change is no longer a fabrication. Climate change is a globally occurring phenomenon caused by man-made greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon dioxide. Besides serious global ramifications, climate change poses a special challenge to sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries in general, and in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the worlds lowest electricity access rate at 26%, with a rural electricity access rate of only 8%. Eighty five percent of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on biomass for energy. In a quest for modern energy, 70% of household income is spent on energy (diesel, kerosene, charcoal); 0.4 million hectare forests are cleared each year in Africa. The Sub-Saharan Africa largely depends on biomass and its products (Charcoal), however; the production of charcoal is inefficient. The use of fuel wood is inefficient as well. Exposure to indoor pollution is globally responsible for over 1 million premature deaths and a substantial portion of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The above numbers indicate a huge energy infrastructure gap and an urgent fix. Deforestation in Africa is a cause of concern for every nation since the forests in Africa serve as sinks for absorption of the CO2 produced across the world. Climate Change offers opportunities for Africa to become a leader in the utilization of renewable energy, in particular hydro, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, etc for meeting energy requirements and reducing deforestation. Like other nations, African nations have an energy need that is met by the utilization of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and Uranium. However, this paper calls for the development of Renewable Energy (RE) resources for the reasons stated above. The renewable energy resources development and use can significantly contribute to enhancing electricity and energy accessibility in
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Africa. However, the potential of renewable energy sources remains largely untapped as of date. Overall, unexploited potential of renewable energy resources can be traced back to national energy policies. The energy policies mainly concentrate on the conventional electricity sector. Conventional electricity is subsidized, while the support for renewable sources remains on the fringes. The resources allocated for renewable energy are meager. Furthermore, renewable energy strategies including the vision, institutions and implementation plans are not well articulated in numerous countries. The benefits of RE in the face of climate change are not well recognized in the energy policies. In addition, there is a disconnect between national energy policies and the national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) with respect to renewable energy in a number of African countries. Therefore, this Paper is about reviewing public policies with respect to renewable energy and climate change, identifying the disconnects that exist at the country level, presenting the potential of renewable energy development amid constraints and suggesting way forward to exploit the renewable energy resources for increasing electricity and energy access rate in Africa. The paper is divided into six parts: Part I, already covered, is introductory in nature. Part II presents the renewable energy resources of Africa. Part III reviews the public policies including the existing energy policies and the national communications of selected countries to the UNFCC. The objective of the review is to assess if these policies are leading to exploitation of RE resources; and if these policies are able to eliminate energy poverty in Africa. Right policies, right institutions and human resource capacities are important for Africa to harness renewable energy resources. Part IV presents the harnessing of renewable energy resources to bridge the existing energy infrastructure gap. Part V presents a way forward for scaling up the utilization of renewable energy resources in Africa. The conclusions and recommendations are presented in part VI. PART II - RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN AFRICA The potential and status of development of renewable energy resources are described below: Hydropower Technically, exploitable hydropower potential of the African continent is estimated at 1,852 TWH/year (11% of the worlds total potential). About 93% of this potential remains unexploited. This is the least cost option for meeting demand, as shown by several hydropower projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cameroon. The Congo River in DRC is the most significant renewable energy resource of Africa with potential to contribute to economic renaissance of the continent
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(Appendix 1, Figure 1). It is well recognized that the development of hydropower is very critical to improving access to electricity in Africa, improving energy security and reliability of energy supplies, and reduction of environment damages from the use of traditional fuels that have far-reaching effects on poor peoples health and livelihoods. Geothermal Energy The potential of geothermal energy is stated to be 14,000 MW in East Africa Rift Valley. The geothermal potential for selected African countries is; Kenya 3GW, Ethiopia more than 1GW, Djibouti approximates 850 MW, Uganda 450MW and Tanzania 150MW. To date, only 129 MW has been exploited in Kenya and 7 MW in Ethiopia. Kenya has planned to produce 1260 MW using geothermal energy by 2018. Olkaria III (Kenya)-35 MW IPP has been commissioned and started selling power to Kenya Power & Light Company (KPLC). There are different types of constraints to geothermal development: some of them are generic, while others are specific to individual countries. The generic constraints cover the exploratory risks related to drilling and field development, while the specific constraints are related to financial risks, and country-related commercial and institutional risks. Removal of these risks together with the reduction of implementation costs would promote the adoption of geothermal energy in the region. There is need to develop a regional program to facilitate the exploitation of the geothermal energy in the Rift Valley. Solar Energy Africas solar energy potential is huge (Appendix 2, Figure 2) and equivalent to 90-100 million tons of oil per annum. The solar insolation in the West Africa varies from 3-4 kWh/m2/day in Cotonou to 6.2 kWh/m2/day in Agadez (Niger). In North Africa, Morocco receives an average of 4.7 to 5.6 kWh/m2/day. In the Southern Algeria, overall radiation reaches average levels of 6.1 kWh/m2/day. In Southern Africa, the overall average radiation varies 5-6 kWh/m2/day. African nations have made notable progress in the use of solar photovoltaic power. Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal have promoted solar home systems but to high-income households. With regard to potential for solar power production, it is estimated that with adequate investment in the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology, Africa can produce enough electricity to meet its own needs and export surplus electricity to Europe.

Wind Energy The wind energy potential is greatly located in the coastal areas. Tentatively, it is planned to add about 8,500 MW by 2020 (Appendix 3, Figure 3). About 150 MW of wind power has been installed in Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, and Cape Verde). This is a very low penetration rate compared to other markets in the world. The low capacity of installed wind generation is not because the resource does not exist, but for other reasons, including the fact that a number of countries do not have the appropriate regulatory framework in place to encourage private investment in the development of wind energy. This constitutes an important barrier impeding the development of wind energy in Africa. The African Development Bank has prepared a pipeline of wind energy projects corresponding to about 900 MW. The Bank is also promoting private investment in the wind energy projects. Cogeneration The potential of cogeneration is attractive for industries which need to utilize it for processing heat and power. These industries are sugar, rice mills, pulp & paper, chemicals, and cement. Africa Energy Policy Research Network (AFREPREN) has estimated the potential of cogeneration at about 732 MW in sugar industries in selected African countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda. Moreover, South Africa has also programmed to install 900 MW capacities. Sizable startup costs and regulatory issues pose major barriers to the exploitation of cogeneration. Some of the costs could be reduced by taking opportunities provided under the CDM of Kyoto Protocol. Biomass The potential of biomass can be sub-divided into four categories (i) Agricultural waste (ii) Animal waste (iii) Wood waste and (iv) Energy producing crops. The potential of the first three items is 131,000 Tons of Oil Equivalent (TOE). Some studies show that the potential of bio methane production is 6 million TOES. These biomass potentials need to be exploited to generate electricity through a variety of technologies, such as biomass gasifiers, cogeneration/combined heat and power, and biogas. The energy producing crops are utilized for production of the combustible liquids (i) ethanol from sugar cane, manioc or maize and (ii) methanol from wood by gasification and gas synthesis. The bio fuel production is being explored in countries such as Ghana, Mozambique, and Zambia. The possibility of producing bio fuel is great using pourghere almonds a plant which grows in both equatorial and semi-arid zone and Jathropa. The bio-fuel can be substituted for gas oil in specially adapted engines.
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In summary, it is noted that Africas renewable energy resources are considerable but unevenly distributed. However, these resources have not been assessed and evaluated. Multilateral and bilateral donors have funded few projects in selected countries, leading to resource assessment but many more evaluations are needed to give the precise idea of the potential of various renewable energy resources in the SSA. PART III-REVIEW OF PUBLIC POLICIES National Communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) The non-Annex 1 African countries to the Kyoto Protocol that have submitted initial national communications to UNFCC (http://unfcc.int/national_reports/items/1408.php) are given below: Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mauritania, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sao Tome Principe, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of the above, Botswana, Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Morocco, Sierra Leone, and South Africa have updated and submitted their mitigation strategies to the Climate Change Secretariat following the Copenhagen Summit http://unfcc.int/home/items/5265.php). The National Communications to the UNFCC describe the sectors, the policies and measures that are important for reducing greenhouse gases as well as adapting to negative effects of the Climate Change by 2020. This paper concentrates on the energy sector. All the national communications underscore the importance of the energy sector; in particular, its huge potential to reduce greenhouse gases as the sector is well positioned to conveniently deploy zero carbon and/or low carbon technologies. While the depth of measures varies from one party to another, all the mitigation measures are coincident on the following themes that need to be addressed while taking actions to limit greenhouse gases. Cooking Energy Fuel wood, charcoal and agriculture waste consumption constitute about 85% of energy use in Sub-Saharan Africa except for South Africa whose consumption of fuel wood is limited to about 15% of the national energy consumption. It is recognized that both the fuel wood and charcoal stoves are inefficient. Moreover, the charcoal kilns are also
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inefficient. Funding is required to expand the programs of efficient cooking stoves for both charcoal and fuel wood. Moreover, charcoal business-production and sale is in the hands of small and medium enterprises under the private sector. The charcoal business is largely unregulated. Without public policy to set efficiency standards and regulatory measures, the private sector cannot be motivated to invest in the measures to raise efficiency of charcoal kilns. The governments need to take actions in respect to the above. At the same time, the financing agencies need to open a line of credit to lend to private entrepreneurs for investment in the improved charcoal kilns. To substitute charcoal and fuel wood, some countries have significantly achieved the penetration of electricity and butane in semi-urban and urban areas. Others have expressed desirability to promote wider use of LPG/butane/kerosene/alternative fuels and solar cookers in the rural areas to avoid deforestation. This suggests that the fossil fuels are still required to reduce deforestation until alternative fuels and devices become available. Still others have suggested undertaking forestation programs/social forestry in the rural areas. All of the above are necessary in every country of Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Conservation in Household, Industry and Transport sectors A number of countries have expressed intentions for improving efficiency of end users (lighting, cooling and refrigeration) of the household, industrial and transport sectors but only few (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa) have established targets to the above effect. Furthermore, in regard to the industrial sector, most of the countries have proposed to improve the efficiency of boilers, and to substitute the use of fuel oil with natural gas/coal/biomass. Most of the countries in Maghreb (North Africa) have proposed mandatory energy audits, and technology upgrades for industrial sector. For electricity generation, proposals have been made to utilize natural gas in place of petroleum products. Similarly, utilization of hydropower has been recommended to reduce greenhouse gases by others. The countries like Rwanda and Tanzania have also considered the regional integration to reduce greenhouse gases. Utilization of New and Renewable Energy Resources for Energy Access Notably, Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, and South Africa have considered the application of Renewable Energy, in particular solar and wind energy, to produce electricity to meet national electricity demand. While Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia focused on reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, others envisaged the utilization of renewable energy for increasing the electricity access rates of the population. Geothermal energy utilization is limited to Kenya though the potential
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exists in all countries of the Eastern Rift Valley. Still others have recognized the application of renewable energy (solar photovoltaic and wind) for water lifting, and lighting. The countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya have proposed to utilize biogas for cooking, lighting in rural areas. Numerous countries are keen to exploit the potential of small hydropower, land fill gas, etc. Most of the East African countries have considered the cogeneration to mitigate greenhouse gases. The National Communications do not lay as much thrust as is required on increasing investment for improving energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa. Review of National Energy Policies Review of national energy policies helps us in understanding the national priorities and the review will guide the countries having less successful policies in updating their policies to facilitate investment in the sector. The highest common priorities are: (i) increasing investment (ii) increasing energy access rate (iii) promoting sustainable energy supply options (Renewable energy and energy efficiency) and (iv) capacity building. Without increasing investment, the energy infrastructure gap cannot be minimized. However, the energy policies in many Sub-Saharan African countries do not contain strategies for facilitating investment in the renewable energy resources. The strategies need to address the investor perceived risks: The investors need a long-term off-take guarantee (PPA), predictable price and open access to the grid, all of which together with the Feed-in-Tariff policy go a long way to address risks. The Feed-in-Tariffs are quite popular to facilitate investment in the new and renewable energy projects; over 60 countries worldwide have introduced such instruments for various renewable energy technologies. Of the above countries only five, namely Algeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, and South Africa are situated in Africa. These countries provide investors a predictable price, guaranteed off-take arrangements and arrangement for interfacing with the grid for different Renewable energy technologies. As a result, the investment is increasing in Renewable Energy Technologies in these countries. Investment in harnessing the renewable energy resources is lacking in other Sub-Saharan African countries. Thus, the penetration of the renewable energy technologies in other SubSaharan countries is blocked by the lack of appropriate public policies and regulatory instruments to promote investment in the Renewable Energy Technologies and not by the technical considerations. Thus, there exist the energy policy gaps. What is needed now is new and composite energy policy consisting of renewable energy policy and elements of national communication to UNFCC to steer investment to develop renewable energy resources in order to enhance energy access for people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PART IV- HARNESSING RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES TO MINIMISE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE GAP To better understand the renewable energy resources presented in part II, it is necessary to understand the situation at the country level (www.ren21.net/maps). It is also necessary to review the steps taken to harness renewable energy resources. The objective of this part of the paper is to briefly scan renewable energy development activities at the country level for selected countries and underline potentials and pitfalls on the road to development of renewable energy in Africa. Scan of Renewable Energy Development Southern Africa The governments in general recognize the role of renewable energy resources in meeting energy demands of dispersed homesteads. The initiatives to harness Renewable Energy basically cover: biomass, biogas and bio fuel (ii) wind energy (iii) utilization of solar energy (iv) small and mini/micro hydro and (vi) waste-to-energy. Under the first theme, steps taken by the countries encompass the promotion, production and marketing of portable and fixed stoves. To improve efficiency of charcoal production, Tanzania has got a project to train producers by promoting the Improved Basic Earth mound Kilns. Biogas for meeting cooking energy and lighting is under promotion in numerous countries, namely, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. However, lack of end user funding and limited number of trained masons compared to demand is the main constraint. A biogas to electricity plant of 4.2 MW located at Mosel bay is first the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in South Africa, championed by PETROSA, NGO-IkamvaLabntu and the Independent Power Producers (IPP). Cogeneration plants (200 MW) are under operation in Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa. Notably, Mauritius generates about 40% of the national demand from the bagasse based power generation system. Countries are carrying out the scoping studies as to the production of bio fuel, mainly bio diesel using Maringu and Jathropha feedstock. A Zambian entrepreneur has prepared a blue print to produce bio diesel, which is constrained by the lack of funding to start production of bio-diesel. Wind energy resource mapping studies have been carried out in Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, and South Africa. Wind applications include mechanical wind pumps, battery charging and grid connected wind farms. A large number of mechanical wind pumps (2,780,000) have been installed in South Africa. 40 MW wind electricity production has been constrained by the protracted negotiation between the authorities and IPPs in Namibia. Eskom of South Africa will be implementing 100 MW wind farm using the concessionary funding from the Clean Technology Fund and the MDBs. However, the wind energy equipment manufacturing capability in the country is limited to 10-300 kW. The projects to utilize solar energy include the electrification of the administrative posts in Nampula, Cabo Delgado, and Niassa provinces of Mozambique, among others. In
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South Africa, installation of 1 million solar water heaters has been planned by 2013. Expected market expansions over the next 15 years is estimated at more than 150 MWp (15,000 schools, 1,700 clinic and up to 2 million households). However, the factor limiting the adoption of the solar technology is the high upfront investment cost required. Developing a manufacturing hub for the Southern Africa Region will reduce the cost and alleviate barriers arising out of high upfront costs. As to the production of solar thermal power, Botswana is to prepare a feasibility study of 200 MW solar power plants based on the parabolic trough technology. Eskom has planned to produce 100 MW solar electricity using Central Tower/Receiver technology at Upington. The project is expected to be funded by the CTF and the MDBs. The piloting of micro/mini hydro has been successful in Zambia and Tanzania with the assistance of development partners and involvement of local communities. These schemes transferred know-how and knowledge to local communities with regard to operation and maintenance of technology. Moreover, the waste-to-energy projects are being conceived in Mauritius, Seychelles, and South Africa. 20 MW incineration plant in Mauritius is expected to be developed by an Independent Power Producer. East Africa The Renewable Energy resources of the Eastern Africa region are known in terms of geothermal energy, cogeneration, wind, small hydro, and solar energy. Renewable Energy development has been at low level. Kenya is the leader in exploiting the geothermal energy. Geothermal production capacity stands to 128 MW and its further expansion is being supported by bilateral donors. The geothermal energy potentials of Ethiopia (>100MW), Uganda (450MW), Djibouti (300-800MW) are yet to be exploited. The potentials of cogeneration of electricity and process steam remain to be exploited in Kenya (430 MW), Ethiopia (450MW), Sudan (750 MW) and Tanzania (300MW). With appropriate feed-in policy and tariff, and credit extension to entrepreneurs, the cogeneration potentials can be exploited at relatively low investment costs. Kenya is building 300 MW wind farm in Lake Turkana. KenGen is to secure another 14 sites for wind energy production. Ethiopia is developing the 120 MW Ashegoda wind energy project, which is estimated to produce about 400 to 450 GWh per annum. Hydropower is available in all countries except Djibouti. The micro/mini/small hydro projects in the East Africa region need to be developed to increase electricity access rate in rural areas. A cluster approach and community involvement will reduce production costs. Furthermore, IPPs are implementing mini hydro schemes in Uganda, thanks to the smart subsidy being offered to producers on a competitive basis. The solar radiations of about5 kWh/m2/day are recorded in most countries. The application of solar energy is limited to pilot scale for
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electric lighting, and water heating except for Kenya where 220,000 solar home systems have been installed without the government subsidy. The knowledge base to exploit solar thermal power needs to be developed. The institutional structures to handle renewable energy are weak in order to support the utility scale renewable energy projects in view of Climate Change. In general, there is lack of sustainable incentives and feed-in policies except for Uganda and Kenya, which have established the feed-in-tariffs for selective technologies. West Africa The Renewable Energy resources of the Western Africa region include large hydropower, small hydro, biomass/biogas/bio fuel, wind energy, and solar energy. The electricity supply in Ghana comes from hydro power; government is developing 400 MW Bui hydroelectric power plants. Similarly, the development of massive hydropower potential of Nigeria needs to be encouraged for national use in the context of mitigating greenhouse gases. The micro/mini hydropower potential of Togo and Benin is respectively 224 MW and 34 MW, which could be developed for electrification of rural areas through public-private partnerships as noted in the case of Uganda. The energy balances indicate prominent use of biomass including fuel wood and charcoal by rural population and low income urban households. Despite an oil exporting country, fuel wood is widely used in Nigeria in both rural and urban areas for cooking and heating. The overall impact is that the country witnesses a high rate of deforestation. In Ghana, 80% of charcoal production is through using fuel wood from the ecologically fragile transitional zone between the rain forest and northern Savanna. Besides increasing efficiency of charcoal making, the government of Senegal has made serious efforts to substitute biomass and charcoal with LPG/butane. The consumption of LPG has been growing, despite the withdrawal of subsidy. The problem in biomass and charcoal use can be solved by (i) increasing the use of alternative fuels and devices such as LPG/butane and (ii) reforming the renewable energy and biomass sector. Ghana is using the biogas technology for cooking, direct lighting, small power generation and bio-sanitation. Cogeneration of steam and power has been utilized in Oil Palm industries. The production of bio-diesel from Jatropha plant has been pursued in Ghana to reduce consumption of diesel and field tested in Ghana. Multi Purpose Energy Platform based on bio diesel could be promoted to help rural folks in flour milling, oil seed pressing, etc. In general, the wind energy utilization is found favorable on the coast line of the West African states. A private investor is expected to install a 50 MW wind energy park in Ghana.
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Some countries in the Western Africa have set up targets to increase the percentage share of renewable energy in the supply matrix: Senegal intends to increase the share of RE to 15% by 2015 and Nigeria to 70% by 2025. To upscale the RET applications, interventions are needed to deal with the high initial cost of the RET such as (i) solar photovoltaic (ii) mini/micro hydro (iii) biogas. Central Africa The renewable energy resources are highly under-developed except in Cameroon which has published energy plans and there are on-going efforts to reform the sector. Cameroon is endowed with enormous renewable energy resources, namely biomass, hydropower, solar, geothermal and wind. The country intends to meet 80% of its energy requirement through renewable energy by 2020. Besides hydropower, 100 MW from solar photovoltaic and bio-digesters have been envisaged. The government policy suggests progressive introduction of bio-fuels in the energy supply mix for consumption by productive activities. Reforms in the biomass and renewable energy sub-sectors need to be addressed. The hydropower potential of the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated at 100,000 MW including 40,000 MW of Grand Inga (Appendix 1-Figure 1). The techno-economics of Grand Inga appears attractive with the cost of installed kW ranging from US$ 339 kW to 671 US$/KW and the cost of electricity production from USc 1.44/kWh to USc 1.88/kWh. Exceptionally regular River flow is the main characteristic of Inga. The historical minimum flow rate is 21, 400 cubic meters per second and maximum flow rate 83,400 cubic meters per second. The energy production per annum is estimated at 320 TWH. Grand Inga offers DRC great opportunity of exporting power from Grand Inga to other regions, namely West Africa (Nigeria), Southern Africa and to North Africa (Egypt). To evacuate the electricity from Inga hydropower sites, construction of three power interconnection highways is required. (i) Northern Highway involving DRC-CongoChad-Sudan-Egypt power interconnector (ii) Western Highway involving DRC-CongoGabon-Cameroon-Nigeria power interconnector and (iii) Southern Highway involving the power interconnections concerning DRC-Angola-Namibia (Botswana)-RSA and DRC-Zambia-Zimbabwe- Botswana and RSA. Other Central African countries though they are rich in renewable energy resources, lack in institutional, financial and technical capacities to fully utilize the potential of resources. North Africa The North Africa region posses significant potential of solar and wind energy. It is estimated that about 200,000 households can be electrified using solar PV technology in Morocco and Tunisia. The potential of solar pumps and other applications is estimated at
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5 MW. The potential solar collectors to supply hot water are estimated at 1 million square meters. Globally, wind energy potential is estimated at 20,000 MW, of which 1000-2000 can be developed by 2012. The North African countries are actively participating in preparing the Mediterranean Solar Plan of 20,000 MW. Algeria, despite abundant fossil fuels, has decided to harness solar energy to substitute natural gas. The target is to raise the renewable energy share to 6% in the electricity supply matrix by 2015 through establishing 100 MW wind; 170 MW solar thermal, 51 MW solar photovoltaic; 450 MW cogeneration; and 500 MW Concentrating Solar Power. Algeria has also developed the feed-in-tariffs to promote private production of solar and wind energy projects. Egypts energy policy envisages reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Egypt considers a range of renewable energy technologies from cogeneration in industries to wind energy to concentrating solar power besides promoting energy efficiency of end users. RE share in general will be raised to 10% by 2020. RE targets cover 2500 MW in the blocks of 250 MW; hydro -300 MW; and 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant with a 20 MW parabolic trough solar field. Its policy instrument is public competitive bidding for 250 MW wind form projects. Tunisia and Morocco have got a very articulated energy strategy, focusing on wind energy: 550 MW (Morocco) and 300 MW (Tunisia) and also on the improvement of the energy efficiency of household, commercial and industrial sectors. To sum up, the utility scale wind power plants are being developed by several countries on the continent. As regards solar power, most of the African electric utilities do not have much experience in the CSP technology, nor do they have plans to tap solar energy for power production. Therefore there is need to prepare Sub-Saharan Africa Solar Power similar to the Mediterranean Solar Plan of 20,000 MW. Furthermore, several actions are required to expedite the exploitation of solar energy for power production (i) Energy policy needs to be streamlined to embrace CSP technology (ii) concessionary funding is needed since the technology is still developing (iii) capacity building is needed to make up the lack of experience (iv) local manufacturing capacity needs to be promoted and (vi) negative environmental impacts of the CSP technology need to be addressed. Renewable hydropower potential can be developed as multi-purpose projects and as multi-national projects through sharing of costs and benefits, by following the model of Manantali project-jointly developed by Senegal, Mali and Mauritania with the financial support provided by the multilateral and bilateral donors. The production cost of mini/micro hydropower can be reduced by using a cluster approach and involving local communities in the operation and maintenance of such facilities. A regional initiative with financial support is needed to facilitate the exploitation of geothermal energy in the East Africa Rift Valley.
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A list of prospective utility scale renewable energy projects totaling 8500 MW in Africa is given in Appendix IV. High up-front costs of the renewable energy systems can be reduced by concessionary resources. Concessionary financial resources are needed to implement both generation and associated transmission projects (Ram Babu 1995 & 2007). PART V-WAY FORWARD FOR SCALING UP THE UTILISATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN AFRICA Energy for Cooking and Lighting Homesteads Energy for cooking food and lighting homesteads remains the essential requirement. The SSA predominantly uses biomass (70%) for cooking except for South Africa which consumes only 15%. The predominant use of fuel wood is one of the causes of the deforestation and the resulting deforestation has been reducing the carbon sinks which Africa offers to the World. With regard to lighting, about 75% of the households do not have electricity access and those with electricity access use inefficient lighting bulbs. To tackle the problem of cooking energy, Niger and Ethiopia have prepared strategies for supplying cooking energy at household level including the extension of efficient cooking stoves, efficient charcoal kilns and charcoal burning stoves. LPG/Kerosene to substitute fuel wood has also been proposed. Limited availability of funds impedes the implementation of rural energy supply initiatives in SSA. The international community needs to recognize this problem in the context of the Climate Change and revisit their priorities and commitments to enhance their contribution of financial resources to solve the problem of the supply of energy for cooking, lighting, etc in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Utilization of Renewable Energy Resources The national polices and strategies should be refined/updated/prepared with respect to the following. The suggestions made below could be expanded by taking into consideration local conditions: (i) Removing the Energy Policy Gaps and Constraints: The Renewable Energy Policy gaps as mentioned above lead to the undesirable outcome, that is, little or negligible investment in the development of renewable energy resources. The countries have a prominent role to play in order to close the policy gaps. MDBs should assist the countries in this regard. The institutional arrangements including the regulatory frameworks in support of renewable energy are required to facilitate the utility scale renewable energy projects. The institutional arrangements should cover the market rules, model PPA, grid codes, technical standards, interconnection permits, etc.
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(ii)

Generally, there has been lack of sustainable incentive/ subsidy and predictable feed-in policies to encourage uptake of grid connected renewable energy systems. In Sub-Saharan African, only few countries have established the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs to promote the grid connected systems. Furthermore, such challenges as off-taking arrangements and grid codes including the technical interconnection requirements and standards for private renewable energy projects need to be addressed. Independent System Operator and market rules are needed to provide the open access to transmission system for private sponsors on non-discriminatory basis. (iii) Lack of capacity is a generic constraint to the development of renewable energy across Sub-Saharan Africa: it is required for all types of projects sponsors. Capacity building is needed for financial institutions to let sponsors avail soft credits; and it is as well needed for government officials so that they are able to assess technological choices, formulate incentives, and negotiate the terms of sale and purchase of renewable energy with private sponsors. Geothermal and Solar Homes (Kenya) and Cogeneration (Mauritius), wind (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Cape Verde) are success stories. Lack of Information System prevents the dissemination of best practices between agents and entities in a country and among the countries. For each region, the information system should be established for exchanging information about renewable energy potentials, penetration of technologies, success stories, renewable energy experts and enterprises, which will assist in the development of renewable energy in the countries. Manufacture of RE Equipment: Inadequate local manufacturing capacity is an obstacle for RET penetration. There are numerous sellers in Africa for vending RE equipment and devices. Manufacturing capacity is negligible to produce PV modules or its components, wind turbines, wind generators, components of the concentrating solar power, etc. For example: a wind equipment manufacturer produces only 600-800 Watt wind turbine; with respect to PV, only a couple of components are manufactured in South Africa. The Solar Water Heaters though manufactured in a number of countries are expensive. As a result, most of the RE equipment are imported from China, Korea, Europe, etc. Because of limited capacity of individual nation states, manufacturing facilities for wind, solar and other equipment should be established on a regional basis as hubs for production and supply of RE equipment and

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

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devices. Leading manufactures should be motivated to establish facilities in the SSA. (vii) Due to abundance of renewable energy resources, Africa offers vast markets for the RETS. There is need to have rational policies to develop the market. The leading manufacturers of RE equipment and devices should help develop this market in Africa. Development of the RE market can prove to be a winwin situation for nations and manufacturers. Regional Program for Exploiting the Geothermal: The potentials of these resources exist in numerous countries. For example, geothermal which is found in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania in the East African countries and in Zambia and Mozambique in Southern Africa can be developed through a regional program. But the policy gaps need to be removed by the concerned nations themselves. Sub-Saharan Africa Solar Plan should be prepared similar to the Mediterranean Solar Plan. Madagascar, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia are pursuing the production of biodiesel from Jathropa plant. The experiences gained by these countries should be shared with others. A homogeneous public policy is needed to guide the production of bio-fuels in the SSA. Rationalizing Tariff, introducing peak load pricing (World Bank Technical Paper No.240), and removing fossil fuel subsidies will go a long way in promoting the RET on the continent. Mobilizing Concessionary resources to finance investment to implement the renewable energy projects in Africa (Ram Babu, 2006).

(viii)

(ix)

(x)

(xi)

(xii)

Financing of the Investment to Develop and Utilize Renewable Energy The initial upfront cost of the RE equipment and technologies can be reduced by taking advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism which facilitates clean energy development/renewable energy technologies in developing countries. CDM allows Annex I countries to develop projects in non-Annex I countries, which are signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM project results in reduction of greenhouse gases. While countries like China, India and Brazil have been able to benefit from CDM, Africas share is only about 2.69% of the total approved CDM projects. Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, and South Africa are trying to take advantage of CDM Window. As noted by the Clean Energy Investment Framework of the African Development Bank (2008), several
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constraints prevent African countries from utilizing opportunities offered by Carbon Market. The ethos of CDM needs to be spread out as much as possible across the length and breadth of the continent. Donors should consider providing the technical assistance to assist nations in preparing a climate change policy and in developing bankable projects. Furthermore, UNFCC needs to simplify the certification procedures to make them more user-friendly to African countries. Large hydro power projects need to be included in the CDM. Furthermore, uncertainty with respect to the CDM in the period beyond 2012 should be removed. Clean Technology Fund (CTF) The Clean Technology Fund assists the countries which are ODA eligible and have an active country program, prepare and implement development programs and strategies with low carbon objectives. Such countries should have national strategies, such as for renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy security, climate change, or sector development. Government, in collaboration with the MDBs, takes the lead in coordinating the preparation of the investment across sectors, as well as with bilateral and multilateral agencies at the country level during the joint mission. CTF provides grants and/or concessionary loans to renewable energy projects/programs for scaled-up development of the resources. Due to not having the right policies and strategies for renewable energy sector, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa do not become eligible for CTF resources. The World Bank and the African Development Bank are assisting a number of countries to prepare business plans to reduce greenhouse gases. These countries are Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria. The Clean Technology Funds Concessionary Financial support combined with the Feed-in-policies reduces the payback period of the renewable energy projects by 50%. Public-Private Partnerships According to conventional wisdom, governments need to spearhead power sector reforms through consulting users, employees, legislators on the reform objectives, and soliciting their opinions and advice on reducing subsidies to fossil fuels, providing level play field to private investors to develop renewable energy resources, and providing predictable price and market for renewable energy generators. The public-private partnership leads to private investment to develop renewable energy resources. To assist the Independent Power Production, the Feed-in-Tariffs and the law granting the Open Access to transmission system is needed. The other instrument is the Renewable Energy Portfolio including the incentives such as the Production Tax Credit, given to producers according to renewable electricity produced annually. Furthermore, to reduce the price of renewable electricity, the government needs to preset mandatory targets to produce energy from renewable energy sources over a given period. Global Energy
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Network Institute (2004) reports, when combined with appropriate grid feed-in-laws, the above policies increase the cost competitiveness and share of renewable energy sources. Argued by Favian et al (2005), support to renewable energy is justified since it assists the countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, Ram (2006) highlighted that innovating financial model and structures are required to reduce capital costs of IPP projects and the electricity price at customer end. These include, among others, a Suppliers credit to an entrepreneur underwritten by a local commercial bank and zero interest funding from overseas investors which are given right to undertake Carbon Trading in the overseas market, in return for zero interest rate funding. The public sector has a definite role in instituting reforms to promote investment in the renewable energy sector. Assisting Consumers to Acquire RETS Experience suggests that the better-off households capable of mobilizing large monies could easily become the consumers of RETS. The penetration of the Solar Water Heaters and Solar PV is the case in point. Local communities and cooperatives which manage to mobilize some funds could become customers for owning and operating RETS. However, subsidies are required in support of renewable energy technologies. Effective and smart subsidies are desirable. A successful example is Nepals Biogas Support Program, which supports a biogas subsidy according to the size of the plant and remoteness of the region. The program is recognized for its cost-effective design. ((www.nepalbiogas.org/biogas_designing.htm)) Nepals experience in managing and operating the mini/micro hydro and biogas units is also worth considering for replicating in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nepals success is linked to subsidies and easy credits made available to beneficiaries to construct and build biogas plants to use gas for cooking to replace the use of fuel wood and for lighting. The SubSaharan Africa should consider establishing energy special banking facilities or dedicated structures within existing institutions to support funding of RET. Part VI - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS To conclude, the Renewable Energy resources development and use can significantly contribute to enhancing electricity and energy accessibility in Sub-Saharan Africa. What is required is establishment of the right policies and strategies to attract investment from all sources, in order to exploit these resources. Reviews of existing energy policies suggest that the current policies in numerous countries are unable to accelerate the development of renewable energy resources and are not positioned to eliminate energy poverty and unlock the entrepreneurial capabilities of African people.
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The pre-requisite for scaled-up renewable energy program is to establish investor friendly policies which provide a leveled playing field for investors interested in the renewable energy resources. This calls for phasing out of subsidies to fossil fuels and setting parameters to address the investor perceived risks such as predictable market and price over the long-terms. The rationalization of electricity tariffs towards phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies and introducing peak load pricing will assist in accelerating the exploitation of renewable energy resources. . The Sub-Saharan Africa largely depends on biomass and its products (Charcoal). However, the production of charcoal is not efficient. The use of charcoal and fuel wood is not efficient either. As a result, deforestation is rampant. Concerted actions are required to reform biomass sector. The international community should assist the countries because such reforms will reduce deforestation and reduce climate change risks. In view of the existing energy infrastructure gap, harnessing of renewable energy resources to bridge the gap is presented. Estimates indicate that 8,500 MW worth renewable energy projects could be developed in Africa in the Short-Term. In this regard, the funding mechanisms and instruments (for example-Clean Technology Fund) reviewed above are important. Moreover, suggestions included in the Way Forward, should be considered and converted into actionable strategies by the concerned countries, donors, manufacturers and suppliers of renewable energy technologies, devices and systems. WORKS CITED African Development Bank, December 2007, Come Rain or Shine-Integrating Climate Risk Management into Operation, Working Paper No. 89. African Development Bank, March 2008, Proposal for Clean Energy Investment Framework. Global Energy Network Institute (GENI), Fall Quarter 2004, Enlightened Policy Accelerate the renewable energy commercialization. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IV Assessment Report-Climate Change 2007-Working Group II-Impact, Adaptation and Vulnerability, November 2007, Geneva, IPCC. World Energy Council, June 2007, Energy and Climate Change Study Report. Flavin C. and Aeck M., 2005, Energy for Development, REN 21 Network. Panzu, V, 2006, Grand Inga Power Project, Power Point Presentation, Regional Electricity Investment Conference, Windhoek, September 2006.

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Ram, Babu., 1995, Investigating Energy Transition and Strategies for Sustainable Energy Supply and Use in India with a Focus on Delhi and Calcutta, 16th World Energy Congress, Tokyo. Ram, Babu,2007, Africas Intra-regional, Inter-regional and Inter-continental Electricity Trade-Techno-politico-economic Considerations and Future Prospect, 20th World Energy Congress, Rome. Ram Babu, 2006, Financing Investments in Liberalized Energy Markets, World Energy Council Regional Seminar on Energy Market Reforms, 24-25 April, Algiers, Algeria. REN21- Renewable Energy Maps World Bank Technical Paper No. 240, 1994, Renewable Energy Technologies Appendix 1: Figure 1: The Congo River: A Renewable Energy Resource of Africa- with potential to contributing to the Economic Renaissance of the African continent

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Appendix-2- Figure 2-Solar Map of Africa Appendix 3-Figure 3-Wind Energy Map of Africa Appendix 4: A List of Renewable Energy Projects in Africa (2010-2015)

Concentrating Solar Power Plants in Algeria, Botswana, and South Africa (800 MW); Small Hydropower projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (400-500 MW); Wind Energy Projects in Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Cape Verde (900 MW); Large Hydropower Projects (4000 MW) in Ethiopia, OMVG, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, and Cameroon Geothermal Energy Projects (300 MW) in Kenya and Djibouti Development of cogeneration utilizing bagasse from sugar factories as a fuel (2000 MW) in Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda and South Africa.

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