eBusiness Weekly
Business Reporter
Africa must increase investment in developing its renewable energy and attract greater support from the private sector and international financial institutions if it is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), some energy experts have said.
The continent should also control, exploit and transform its enormous mineral resources locally to generate the financial resources needed for its development, the experts, who represented a dozen African countries, during an African Development Bank (AfDB) workshop said.
The regional bank has already launched the Extractive Sector Financial Modelling Project to help nations mobilise more tax revenue, build institutional capacity and strengthen resilience.
Zimbabwe, alongside Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan have already benefited from the two-year programme, which launched in 2020.
Speaking on a panel on “Financial modelling for a just energy transition for certain critical minerals in transition countries”, director of policy and research at Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources Dr John David Cooper said renewable energy gave his country opportunities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We also need to be major players in the energy field,” Dr Cooper said.
Zimbabwe’s drive towards generating 1 100MW from renewable energy sources by 2025 has been slowed by lack of investment by independent power producers (IPPs) spooked by the country’s currency volatility and uneconomic tariffs.
To address the concern, the Government is giving guarantees to independent power producers, with projects of a combined 1 000MW.The Government agreed to a Government Implementation Agreement (GIA) for all solar IPPs projects.
Under a GIA, IPPs will be guaranteed an economic tariff, while the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will ensure that they can convert their earnings to foreign currency and be able to transfer it. The GIA also carries a power purchase agreement with ZESA.
Experts noted that Africa has made considerable progress in energy transition despite the challenges.
Pointing to the scale of the challenges still ahead, Silas Olang, Energy Transition Advisor for Africa at the Natural Resources Governance Institute in Accra, Ghana, said that no African country ranks among the world’s top 30 in energy transition. Still, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa are examples of countries implementing ambitious renewable energy development policies.
Renewable energy has the potential to provide electricity to the 600 million Africans currently deprived of it, create jobs and stimulate industrialisation.
“Every dollar invested in renewable energies will yield an additional US$0,93, and the deployment of renewable energies will progressively lead to lower costs, unlike fossil fuels,” Dr Cooper said.
In addition to solar energy, Africa’s renewable assets include wind power, biomass, hydroelectricity and minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt, which are needed for renewable energy technologies including the production of solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles.
A key theme of the discussions was the need for the continent to take better advantage of its immense mining resources for sustainable development.
