Trends in Development assistance to new Renewable Energy in Sub-Saharn Africa

Danish Institute for International Studies


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Abstract: Nearly half of all people in Sub-Saharan Africa,548 million people,lack access to electricity (Kruger et al. 2018,IEA et al. 2020). Reaching universal access by 2030,as prescribed in SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy,would require significant additional investments. Although energy production is increasing,it has been estimated that a fivefold increase from the current level of investments to more than USD 100 billion per year is needed (IEA 2019: 141). According to current energy policies in sub-Saharan African countries,almost two thirds of investments in power production on the continent are envisaged to be in non-hydro renewable energy like solar,wind and geothermal (ibid). However,many countries have been very slow in realising their goals for new renewable energy,which by 2018 still only accounted for 4% of total generating output (IEA 2019: 56,Kazimierczuk 2019).?Moving to scale? using new renewable energy technologies like solar and wind is required if African countries are to avoid becoming major contributors to carbon emissions and climate change.

Author:
Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen, Ole Winckler Andersen, Henning Nøhr
Theme/Sector:
Energy and Fuels, Renewable Energy, Africa
Year
2020

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