Sub-Saharan Africa

A webinar held to discuss the role of donor funding in the African energy sector was told the U.S. president has ambitious plans to ramp up donations to developing economies – provided he can get Congress on side.

European researchers have estimated the potential of floating PV deployment at Africa’s existing hydropower reservoirs which exceed 5 MW in size, by using satellite images and hydropower reservoir data. Under the most likely scenario presented in the study, utility scale floating solar may reach a capacity of more than 20 GW by using less than 1% of the water surface area at 108 hydropower plants spread across the continent, assuming a capex of €0.40/W.

The Commercial and Industrial (C&I) solar sector currently accounts for 75% of power demand in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, due to the unreliable nature of energy supply from the grid, consumers under this segment have been forced to invest in alternative sources of energy, which they consider to be more reliable and less expensive, such as the use of captive solar solutions.

The global off-grid solar appliance market began an uneven recovery from the worst ravages of the global pandemic in the second half of last year, according to market body GOGLA, but more finance and policy support must be made available to have any chance of achieving universal electricity access this decade.

The Khoumagueli Solar IPP project will sell power to local utility Electricité de Guinée (EDG).

Politicians across the continent will have to decide between their heavily-indebted state utilities or embracing the energy transition, according to one energy analyst.

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

The Golomoti solar plant is expected to come online by the end of the year. The plant will be used to provide grid stability and reduce national dependence on diesel generators and hydroelectric generation.

Nigeria and Ghana-based Starsight Energy has spent an undisclosed amount to acquire a half stake in the Kenyan subsidiary of East African peer Premier Solar Group.

With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.