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Africa Must Address the Political Challenges of Enhancing its Electricity Grid to Enable Wind Power Development

Thriving Political Dialogue

With an African ‘super grid’ in place, and if all global wind developments would focus on Africa for just one year, energy poverty could be eradicated on the continent.

These are the core arguments cited by Johan van den Berg, Head of the AEEP Secretariat, in an opinion piece for EURACTIV, for why Africa and Europe should focus their joint efforts towards harnessing the potential of wind in Africa.

Analysis commissioned by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation estimates that there is enough wind to power the continent’s energy demand 250 times over.Today, however, only 0.01% of Africa’s wind power is being used despite the low per-unit cost.

Drawing on five key recommendations presented in the AEEP’s policy brief ‘Wind Energy: Joining Forces for an African Lift-Off‘, launched at the EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF) 2022, van den Berg, notes that the challenge to electrify Africa through a much enhanced grid is ,however, as political as it is financial. The launch of the African Single Electricity Market may be the tool needed to rise to the challenge. Africa should therefore focus on developing the necessary grid to enable the use of wind energy throughout the continent, as one of the most affordable energy alternatives. Van den Berg concludes that the more wind power Africa builds, the lower the cost of electricity will become. The same will also be true for solar energy.

Read the full article at: euractiv.com

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