AEEP Policy Brief: African-European Collaboration Can Unlock Africa’s Wind Energy Potential and Satisfy the Continents Electricity Demand

Today, the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) has launched its latest Policy Brief “Wind Energy: Joining Forces for an African Lift-Off”. The Brief was peer reviewed by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and RES4Africa and presented at the EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF) 2022 in a joint side-event with the European Commission, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), GWEC and Vestas South Africa.

Although several African countries have built sizeable wind industries in the past decades, and despite the very low per unit cost of modern wind, the installed capacities of around 6,500 MW in 2020 only represent a tiny fraction of what is possible. The International Finance Corporation concludes that with onshore alone, Africa has potential to satisfy the entire continent’s electricity demand 250 times over.  Due to the resource availability and competitive cost, wind power could anchor the on-grid energy future by providing a large contribution to the electricity supply and increasing shares to sectors like transport and manufacturing.

The AEEP Policy Brief takes stock of Africa’s immense wind energy potential, the well-advanced rate of global technology deployment but also highlights the joint efforts that are needed to unlock a conducive enabling environment in Africa.

Download the AEEP Policy Brief “Wind Energy: Joining Forces for an African Lift-Off”