Participants at the 2012 African Economic Conference (EAC) have been told to encourage investment in wind and other forms of renewable energy to increase access to electricity among Africans.
Presenting a paper on wind energy development, Emelly Mutambatsere an expert with the African Development Bank, said that Africa is faced with the challenge of generating more power to meet existing and future demand with over half a billion people in the continent with no access to electricity.
But despite the daunting gap, Mutambatsere noted that for many countries, an opportunity exists to enhance energy production in a clean and sustainable manner because the continent is well endowed with renewable energy resources.
Mutambatsere's assertion is backed by the 2010 World Energy Council (WEC) report which said that Africa's reserves of renewable energy resources are the highest in the world, and that the continent has enough renewable energy potential to meet future demand.
About 18 of the 35 developing countries ranked highest in renewable energy reserves, are in Africa.
"So with all this potential, what's stopping us?" he asked?
President Paul Kagame who spoke earlier urged Africa to invest more in key sectors that would stimulate growth and result to sustainable development with energy and infrastructure being at the fore.
The conference heard that out of the 27 developing countries in seven regions with the highest potential for wind energy, Africa dominates with eight of them. And 24 out of the 34 developing countries with highest potential for solar energy are also found in Africa.
Egypt, Madagascar, Kenya and Chad have large on-shore wind energy potential while Mauritania's potential is about four times its annual energy consumption in tons of oil equivalent.
According to Khalid Siddig from Khartoum University, Sudan's wind energy potential is equivalent to 90% of the country's annual energy needs. In addition, five other African countries; Mozambique, Tanzania, Angola, South Africa and Namibia have potentially large off-shore wind energy resources.
"The disparity between potential and extent of exploitation raises questions about constraints to development of wind energy on the continent."
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201211050043.html
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