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Bloomberg: Africa chooses renewable energy too, 1.8GW of new capacity planned in 2014
As well as China and India, Africa too chooses to invest in renewable energy. Two mega-projects already approved and financed in South Africa and Kenya.
A report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an international organization dedicated to the study & research of progress and changes taking place in the energy sector, reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa is currently emerging as one of the most exciting new markets for renewable energy technologies, such as wind, solar and geothermal power plants.
Contested between China and the United States, and recently also by Arab entrepreneurs for its oil reserves, Africa has now focused on the alternative energy market. Only in 2014, about 1.8GW of renewable power capacity, excluding hydroelectric sources, have been commissioned to the Sub-Saharan region, an amount exceeding the overall installation set between 2000 and 2013.
On balance, the estimated investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (mainly South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia) would amount to nearly $6 billion in 2014, with an acceleration expected around $7.7 billion by 2016, which are superior to the annual average rate for the five-year period 2006-2011, around $1 billion.
According to Victoria Cuming, senior analyst for Bloomberg, the renewable energy market is not actually new to the African continent: in fact, Sub-Saharan Africa has been active in the field of renewable energy lately, with major investments in the geothermal sector, for example. What has changed if compared to the past is precisely this greater awareness about the benefits that a green revolution could have on its economic leadership worldwide: the cost of wind and solar energy per MWh is not only an affordable alternative for the country itself, given that Africa has plenty of the above-mentioned resources, but mostly for its potential future growth, which has an exponential value.
As already known even to the two Asian giants of China and India (see focus), that will derive the 2/3 of their energy from renewable sources by 2030, clean energy represents to all intents and purposes an advantageous alternative to meet the growing global demand for electricity, and for cost containment, especially in comparison to current diesel generation, or power stations still burning coal or gas, which are extremely polluting.
Bloomberg analysis also provides that the three main markets for renewable energy in Africa will be South Africa (with 3.9GW of wind capacity installed), Kenya for power (1.4GW of geothermal capacity), and Ethiopia (570MW of geothermal and wind power), which are countries that already have functional installations and stable policies, enough to reassure reassure investors and market counterparties.
Finally, two mega-projects for renewable energy have already been approved this year, with several hundred million dollar fundings expected: one in South Africa, for the installation of 100MW of solar energy, with an investment of about $884 dollars, and another one in Kenya, with 310MW of wind capacity installed, valued at approximately $650 million.
Contested between China and the United States, and recently also by Arab entrepreneurs for its oil reserves, Africa has now focused on the alternative energy market. Only in 2014, about 1.8GW of renewable power capacity, excluding hydroelectric sources, have been commissioned to the Sub-Saharan region, an amount exceeding the overall installation set between 2000 and 2013.
On balance, the estimated investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (mainly South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia) would amount to nearly $6 billion in 2014, with an acceleration expected around $7.7 billion by 2016, which are superior to the annual average rate for the five-year period 2006-2011, around $1 billion.
According to Victoria Cuming, senior analyst for Bloomberg, the renewable energy market is not actually new to the African continent: in fact, Sub-Saharan Africa has been active in the field of renewable energy lately, with major investments in the geothermal sector, for example. What has changed if compared to the past is precisely this greater awareness about the benefits that a green revolution could have on its economic leadership worldwide: the cost of wind and solar energy per MWh is not only an affordable alternative for the country itself, given that Africa has plenty of the above-mentioned resources, but mostly for its potential future growth, which has an exponential value.
As already known even to the two Asian giants of China and India (see focus), that will derive the 2/3 of their energy from renewable sources by 2030, clean energy represents to all intents and purposes an advantageous alternative to meet the growing global demand for electricity, and for cost containment, especially in comparison to current diesel generation, or power stations still burning coal or gas, which are extremely polluting.
Bloomberg analysis also provides that the three main markets for renewable energy in Africa will be South Africa (with 3.9GW of wind capacity installed), Kenya for power (1.4GW of geothermal capacity), and Ethiopia (570MW of geothermal and wind power), which are countries that already have functional installations and stable policies, enough to reassure reassure investors and market counterparties.
Finally, two mega-projects for renewable energy have already been approved this year, with several hundred million dollar fundings expected: one in South Africa, for the installation of 100MW of solar energy, with an investment of about $884 dollars, and another one in Kenya, with 310MW of wind capacity installed, valued at approximately $650 million.
