Energy for Sustainable Development: Policy Options for Africa

Over the last four decades, the gap between energy supply and demand in Africa has been growing. Projections by experts in the field forecast that this gap will continue to grow, and the livelihood of more Africans will continue to be critically impaired by energy poverty, that will seriously slow down the socioeconomic development of the continent.

Over the last four decades, the gap between energy supply and demand in Africa has been growing. Projections by experts in the field forecast that this gap will continue to grow, and the livelihood of more Africans will continue to be critically impaired by energy poverty, that will seriously slow down the socioeconomic development of the continent. Energy has been supplied in insufficient quantity, at a cost, form and quality that has limited its consumption by the majority of Africa’s population, making the continent the lowest per capita consumer of modern energy of all regions of the world.

The challenges are indeed daunting, and more than ever, a concerted effort by all actors is required to achieve any significant progress. Most UN agencies and programmes have endeavoured to address some aspects of the African Energy challenge in their work programmes. In this UN-Energy/Africa flagship book, key issues related to policy, regulation, renewable energy development, energy access in urban, peri-urban and rural areas, regional strategies for addressing energy poverty, power sector reforms, energy planning, and energy finance are addressed by various UN agencies and programmes, with the objectives to highlight the main challenges and provide some policy guidelines to accelerate energy supply and access in Africa.

In Chapter one, UNIDO focuses on Commercial and Industrial policies and regulations that would significantly increase the share of renewables and decentralize energy services in the supply of energy. It is argued that market opportunities occur when governments devolve services and when modern technology is introduced. Such regulated policy allows enterprising industry and commerce to plan for innovation and avoid mistakes made elsewhere. Within the broad compass of international policy for Sustainable Development, the desire for economic growth and for widespread energy services has been joined by the need to mitigate Climate Change; these three factors are driving the twin objectives of Renewable Energy generation and Efficient Use of Energy. This process finds itself intertwined with the Liberalization and the Privatization of energy supply, whereby governments use law for the Regulation of such services to the public. This chapter reviews this situation, especially for industrial participation in electricity supply and use in sub-Saharan Africa. It is concluded that present trends strengthen the opportunity for reliable and affordable energy supply to both urban and rural populations, whilst providing market opportunities for national industry and commerce.

In Chapter two, UN-Habitat addresses the linkages between environment, energy and cities. It is argued that most of the commercial and non-commercial energy produced today is used in and for cities, and a substantial percentage of it is used by the household sector. In the chapter, it is pointed out that increasing the efficiency of energy use to reduce its polluting effects and to promote the use of renewable energies must be a priority in any action taken to protect the urban environment. This will require major policy changes to re-orient the current focus on energy supply to an end-use oriented approach, and thus contribute to the sustainable human settlements development goals. The chapter contends that for most developing country cities, capacity-building for appropriate urban energy management will be a longterm and dynamic process, refining and strengthening existing strategies, skills and capabilities. External assistance will be crucial in building the necessary capacity to plan and implement environmental strategies at local level. Principal areas where such support should be considered are: (a) environmental research and policy analysis needed to formulate urban environmental strategies and action plans at local level; (b) policy reform, institutional development and resource mobilization; and (c) financial support for improving efficiency of urban energy services, and for the promotion of renewable energy technologies.

In Chapter three, the UNECA, based on a study jointly commissioned with UNEP, revisits the achievements of power sector reforms initiatives in Africa. The chapter recalls that since more than a decade and half, a number of African countries have embarked on implementing Power Sector Reform (PSR) programmes in a bid to address the deficiencies in the management and operations of their power utilities so as to improve technical and financial performance and extend electricity services. The chapter highlights that preliminary results of these reforms indicate that, while they helped achieve some institutional efficiency, the overall impact on the sector leaves a lot to be desired. These are due to, inter alia, the low
interest in the private sector to improve electricity access levels as well as their unwillingness to commit the levels of investment needed to increase generation capacity and improve transmission. Furthermore, reforms often entailed negative social and environment implications, such as reduced access to electricity for low-income households due to tariff increases, limited electricity coverage due to slowdown of rural electrification programmes, reduced employment due to labour shedding, and negative environmental impacts. The chapter suggests policy guidelines to increase supply, improve the overall performance of the sector, address the specific needs of the poor, and maintain sound environmental standards.

In Chapter four, UNDP provides a unique assessment of the Role of Regional Economic Communities in Scaling-up Access to Modern Energy Services to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and reviews recent development to mainstream energy issues in regional development priorities. The chapter examines the experience of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), especially the ECOWAS and the EAC, as the coordinating regional institutional framework through which countries develop and adopt policies and strategies to scale-up access to modern energy services to meet the MDGs. Building on countries’ national commitments to meeting the MDGs, several RECs have recently widened their strategies and action plans to include these targets and set up new objectives to significantly increase access to modern energy services, as reflected in recently adopted regional energy access policies and strategies by EAC, ECOWAS, and CEMAC. These documents and the framework investment plans have been adopted by the heads of state and government of the regional communities and are being implemented by member countries.

In Chapter five, the World Bank discusses the challenges and key requirements for accelerating investments in the grid and off-grid electricity sector in Africa. The chapter highlights the investment requirements and shortfall, provides rough estimates of the investment levels involved, and summarizes the main existing sources of investment in the sector. The chapter then provides some policy guidelines that could assist government create environments conducive for accelerating investments, and discusses the role of bilateral and multilateral agencies in this regard. In each section, challenges and opportunities arediscussed.

In Chapter six, the IAEA discusses the needs for efficient energy system analysis conducive for good energy planning in Africa. It is contended that expanding access to clean and affordable energy services requires careful planning. The role of the Agency in developing and transferring planning models and data, training local experts, analyzing national options, and assisting to establish continuing local planning expertise is highlighted. The chapter summarizes, first, the IAEA’s energy system analysis and planning tools that are available to member States. Second, it highlights current energy system analysis and planning activities involving member States in Africa. Third, it reviews prospects for nuclear power in Africa and additional IAEA assistance of interest to those member States that choose to explore the possibility of beginning a nuclear power programme.