Master Thesis

Sustainable Energy for the
African Bottom Billion
16th December, 2010

By Yoshihisa Ohno
A thesis submitted to the faculty ofGraduate School of Public Policy, Tokyo University, Tokyo Japan

Thesis adviser
Professor Hideaki Shiroyama, Ph,d.
Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo(Page 1 of 69)

Table of Contents

1. Purpose of this thesis
2. The outline of Energy in Africa
2-1 Purpose of this Chapter
2-2 Petroleum
2-2-1 ----------- Africa in the World
2-2-2 ----------- Africa by Region
2-2-3 ----------- Northern Africa
2-2-4 ----------- Western Africa
2-2-5 ----------- Eastern Africa
2-2-6 ----------- Central Africa
2-2-7 ----------- Southern Africa

2-3 Natural Gas
2-3-1 ----------- Africa in the World
2-3-2 ----------- Africa by Region

2–4 Coal
2-4-1 ----------- Africa in the World

2–5 Grid Electricity
2-5-1 ----------- Africa in the World
2-5-2 ----------- Africa by Region
2-5-3 ----------- Electrification Rate by Region

2-6 Summing-up(Page 2 of 69)

3. Analysis of sustainable offgrid energy technology options
for African Bottom Billion
3-1 ------------- Purpose of this chapter
3-2 ------------- Basic Needs for Energy
3-3 ------------- The prospected future of African Energy
3-4 ------------- Solar (Local Solar Busines, Solar Heater, CSP)
3-5 ------------- Wind (Small Wind Turbines, Local Wind Turbine Supplier)
3-6 ------------- Biofuel
3-7 ------------- Biogas
3-8 ------------- Multi-Functional Platform
3-9 ------------- Summing-up

4. Analysis of Public Policies for Rural Electrification
4-1 ------------- Purpose of this chapter
4-2 ------------- Group A (Counties close to the goal)(More than 70% have access to the electric grid)4-3 ------------- Group B (Counties reaching to the goal)(More than 50% have access to the electric grid)4-4 ------------- Group C (Counties far from the goal)(More than 20% have access to the electric grid)
4-5 ------------- Group D (Counties very far from the goal)(Less than 10% have access to the electric grid)4-6 ------------- International Grid Conection
4-7 ------------- Good Practices
4-8 ------------- Unfortunate Experiences
4-9 ------------- Summing-up

5. Conclusion
5-1 ------------- The conclusion of energy production and consumption in
Africa5-2 ------------- The conclusion of sustainable energy technology
5-3 ------------- The conclusion of grouping
5-4 ------------- The future of African Energy prospected by IEA
5-5 ------------- The conclusion of this Thesis(Page 3 of 69)

Bibliography
AuthorTitle
AGECC Summary Report "Energy for a

AGECC

Sustainable Future"

Abeeku Brew-Hammond andRenewable Energy for Rural Areas inFrancis Kemasuor

AfricaDate
28 Apr, 2010
Apr, 2008

Institute of StatisticaL, Socialand Economic Research,

Guide to Electric Power in Ghana

Jul, 2005

World Economic Outlook Database

Apr, 2010

University of Ghana
International Monetary Fund

The Electric Power Industry of Overseas

JEPIC

Countries Vol. 2

Oak Ridge National
Laboratory

Comparison of Costs and Benefits for DC

OECD/IEAWorld Energy Outlook 2008

Peter Stein, Stein Brothers

The Economics of Burundi, Kenya,

AB

Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda

Tatsujiro Suzuki, Hideaki
Shiroyama, Miwao
Matsumoto
The Energy Center, Kwame
Nkrumah University Of
Science and Technology

The Social Acceptance of Energy
Technology
Energy - My Vision / Flagbearers on
Enrgy in Ghana

Mar, 2010
Feb, 1987
2008
Apr, 200915 Aug, 2007

Sep, 2010

Reducing Rural Poverty through
Increased Access to Energy Services: A

UNDP

Review of the Multifunctional Platform

2004

Project in Mali
UNDP , UNIDO, IEA
UNDP,

WHO

Energy Poverty: How to make modern
energy access universal?
The Energy Access Situation in
Developing Countries

UNDP, the World Bank,

Energy Services for the Millennium

ESMAP

Development Goals(Page 4 of 69)

1 Sep, 2010
Nov, 2009
2004

List of figures
Figure1Electricity consumption in New York and Sub-Saharan Africa

Figure2

Crude Oil Reserves by Region

Figure3

Oil Consumption of Northern Africa

Figure4

Oil Consumption of Western Africa

Figure5

Oil Consumption of Eastern Africa

Figure6

Oil Consumption of Central Africa

Figure7

Oil Consumption of Southern Africa

Figure8

World Natural Gas Consumption, by Region

Figure9World Coal Consumption

Figure10 Coal Consumption of Africa by Region

Figure11 World Electricity Generation

Figure12 Electricity Generation of Africa by Source

Figure13 World PV Market (2009)

Figure14 Prepaid underwater pumping system (Source: Aquameter)

Figure15

Figure16 A solar refrigerator (Source: GVEP)

Figure17 Photovoltaic Market in 2009

Figure18 Solar Shop “Kenital Solar", Kenya (1st November 2008, photo credit: Author)

Figure19

Figure20 Product lineup of Chloride Excide (Source: Chloride Excide)

Figure21

Figure22

Figure23

Figure24

Figure25

Figure26 International Solar Power Potential

A school in rural Azanu Public School, Ghana (24th September 2010, photo
credit: Author)

Solar Shop “Chloride Excide”, Kenya (1st November 2008, photo credit:
Author)Solar mobile phone charger in Tomefa Village, Ghana (20th September 2010,
photo credit: Author)
Solar mobile phone charger in Tomefa Village, Ghana (20th September 2010,
photo credit: Author)
Solar mobile phone charger in Bleamezado Village, Ghana (24th September
2010, photo credit: Author)
Solar mobile phone charger in Bleamezado Village, Ghana (24th September
2010, photo credit: Author)
The administrator of Bleamezado Solar system (24th September 2010, photo
credit: Author)(Page 5 of 69)

Figure27 Central Solar Power (CSP) system (source: DESERTEC)

Figure28 DESERTEC Project (source: DESERTEC)

Figure29 Zafarana 430MW wind farm in Egypt (source :NREA, Egypt Govt.)

Figure30 Small Wind Power plant in Zimbabwe (Source: AfriWEA)

Figure31 Local electric engineer in Ghana (23th September 2010, photo credit: Author)

Figure32

Figure33

Figure34

Figure35 Land potentially available for biofuel production

Figure36

Figure37

Figure38

Figure39

Figure40

Figure41 A Multifunctional platform

Figure42 A MFP in Burkina Faso

Figure43 Water pumped by power from the MFP, in Burkina Faso

Figure44 Car batteries can be powered by the MFP, in Burkina Faso

Figure45

Figure46

Figure47

Mr. Emmanuel Ecanssey, Local electric shop in Ghana (23th September 2010,
photo credit: Author)
Accumulators of wind power plant (23th September 2010, photo credit:
Author)Local made 1kW wind turbine in Ghana (23th September 2010, photo credit:
Author)Jatropha test plant in Kenya (17th Noveember 2007, Kitui, Kenya, photo
credit: Author)
Wild Jatropha fruit in Uganda (11th Noveember 2007, Hoima, Uganda, photo
credit: Author)
Interview with Ambassador Dennis Awori (the Kenyan Embassy to Japan,
on 14th October 2008, photo credit: Author)
A Biogas plant at African Regent Hotel in Accra (19th September 2010, photo
credit: Author)
Dr. John Afari Idan, C.E.O, BTWAL.

(BTWAL Head Lffice, Ghana, 23th

September 2010, photo credit: Author)

Children studying by television driven by the electricity from the MFP , in
Burkina Faso
A micro hydro plant at the Energy Kiosk, Kibai, Kenya (30th October 2008,
photo credit: Author)
A micro hydro plant at the Energy Kiosk, Kibai, Kenya
photo credit: Author)(Page 6 of 69)(30th October 2008,

The fall close used for the micro hydro plant at the Energy Kiosk, Kibai, Kenya

Figure48

Figure49 Countries with electricity access more than 70%

Figure50 Countries with Electricity access 50%～69%(30th October 2008, photo credit: Author)

The interview with Prof. Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Dean, KNUST Energy
Figure51 Center, at the Tech Energy Seminar Series in Accra(TEESSA 2010), British
Council Auditorium, Accra, Ghana on 21 September 2010

Figure52 Countries with Electricity access 20%～49%

Figure53 Countries with electricity access less than 19%

Figure54

Figure55 WAPP connection map

Figure56 Power generation capacity of SAPP countries

Figure57 SAPP connection map

Figure58 WESTCOR connection map

Figure59 EAPP connection map

Figure60 Prepaid electricity charging by mobile phone

Figure61 Electrification of African regions

Figure62 The number of people without access to electricity

Figure63 GDP growth of African countries

The interview with Ambassador Biriggwa held at the Ugandan Embassy toJapan, on 14th October 2008

List of tables
Table 1World Oil Production

Table 2

Oil Consumption of Africa by Region

Table 3Africa Natural Gas Consumption top 10

Table 4

World Electricity Generation by source and region

Table 5

Electricity Generation of Africa by Source

Table 6

Electricity Generation of Africa by Source and Region

Table 7

Electrification Rate of African Countries

Table 8UN Millennium Development Goals and energy demand

Table 9WESTCOR Development Schedule

Table 10

SAPP and WESTCOR member countries

Table 11

Power generation capacity of EAPP countries(Page 7 of 69)

Table 12

Combined loan summary 2009 - 2014 of TANESCO

Table 13

Grid based generation of TANESCO

Table 14Analysis of features with offgrird energy technologies for Africa

Table 15

Electrification of African regions in summary

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
AfriWEA
AGECC

African Wind Energy Association
United Nations Secretary Generals Advisory Group on Energy andClimate ChangeAU

African Union

B.T.W.A.L.

Biogas Technologies West Africa Limited, Ghana

BP

BritishPetroleum

BPC

Botswana Power Corporation

CNOOC

China National Offshore Oil Corporation

CNPC

China National Petroleum Corp

COMESA

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

CSD

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

CSP

Central Solar Power

CSP

Central Solar PowerEAC

African Community

EAC

East African Community

EAPP

Eastern Africa Power Pool

ECA

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

ECG

Electricity Company of Thana Limited

ECOWAS

Economic Community of West African States

EIA

Environmental Impact Assessment

ENE

Empresa Nacional de Electricidade

ESMAP

Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, the World BankEU

European Union

FIT

Feed-in Tariff

GVEP

Global village energy partnership

HCB

Hidroelectrica De Cahora Bassa Sa

HVAC

High Voltage Alternating Current

HVDC

high Voltage direct current(Page 8 of 69)

HVDC

High Voltage Direct Current

ICT

Information and communications technology

IEA

International Energy Agency

IMF

International Monetary Fund

IMF

International Monetary Fund

IsDB

Islamic Development BankJEPICJapan Electric Power Information Center, Inc

JICA

Japan International Cooperation Agency

KNUST

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

LDCs

Least Developed Countries

MEE

Ministry of Electricity & Energy, Egypt

MFP

multifunctional platform

MOU

minutes of understanding

MPIL

Madagascar Petroleum International Limited

NEPA

National Electric Power Authority, NigeriaNGO

non governmental organizations

NREA

New & Renewable Energy Authority, Egypt

OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

PHCN

Power Holding Company of Nigeria

PV

Photovoltaics

SNEL

Societé Nationale d’ Electricité

SSA

Sub-Saharan Africa

TANESCO

Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited

UN

United Nations

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

UPDEA

Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power inAfricaUS

The United states of America

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

WAPP

West African Power Pool

WESTCOR

Western Power Corridor

WHO

World Health Organization(Page 9 of 69)

1. Purpose of this thesis

The purpose of this thesis is find out whether, when, and how can the rural Africans(hereinafter referred to as “”bottom billion”) get the access to sustainable energy, inother words grid electricity (or enough reliable electricity such as biogas,
multifunctional platforms or micro hydro plants). It is sure renewable energy such as
solar or wind make high impact for off-grid people, nevertheless as we are aware thatrural African people are uncomfortable when they are said they should be satisfied by ajust a small solar unit, this thesis looks for the day when they have the access to modern
energy.
First we will review the current condition of energy production and consumption in
Africa, by global, regional and national viewpoints. Second, the thesis will report the
recent trend in Africa, looking into projects on the ground (mainly based on businessexperiences and research travels). Third, the thesis will work on a new approach, togroup countries into four categories by electrification rate, and analyze energy policies
of some countries. Finally, the thesis will look out for the preferable energy policy forcountries which have low energy access.
*****************************
While a typical child of OECD countries goes to school in daytime to study or play,
almost all African Children has to work from the morning to night, just to eat and live
on. Whereas a typical mother of OECD countries just switch on washing machines or
cooking range for housekeeping and cooking, African mothers have to walk the river forwashing, or collect waters or branches. And when a father of OECD country just have toswitch on the conveyor to move heavy materials, Africans have to convey them by hand.
When an NGO installs a solar panel on a roof of a lucky African house and turn on
the light, the family members go mad with joy. Of course anybody, however poor or livein rural, has the right to use energy, the day when all African home is connected withelectric grid will never come.

(Page 10 of 69)

There are too many reasons why the poorest Africans cannot have access to energy.
The utilities / power companies can’t afford the cost to construct transmission lines, inlack of generation capacity, toomuch transmission loss until
the power reaches rural area,
financialproblem

Figure 1 Electricity consumption in New York and
Sub-Saharan Africa

formaintenance, lack of humanpower to collect the bill…..
The latest report “Energy
Poverty: How to make modern
energyaccessuniversal?”issued by UNDP, UNIDO andthe IEA, shows that The
electricity

accessin

total

Sub-Saharan Africa is 31%,
but if excluded The Republic
of

South

Africa,which

generates more than 40 percent of electricity in Africa, only 28% is connected to theelectric grid. Moreover, the report further tells that when excluded The Republic ofSouth Africa, the electricity supplied to 791 million people of Sub-Saharan Africa(around 40 TWh) equals to the electric power sent to the inhabitants of New York, which
accounts for only 19.5 million people.
But when the day rural people get at sustainable energy tool, has been alreadyhappening across the Continent. And if the political, commercial and financial
conditions were satisfied, it may come true to more people. The purpose of this thesis is
to analyze the energy policy and market of African countries, to seek the best way foruniversal access of sustainable energy.
More importantly , the another purpose of this thesis is, to find out any tendencyof country and energy access in Africa, which has told be relatively “no direction
between regions, countries”.
*******************
This thesis has a significance of its own, because it examined the energy policies of
specific African countries, and as a result it derived a cross-sectorial analysis, and mostimportantly, visualized the tendency of rural electrification in Africa on a geographicalmap 1.
1

Professor Abeeku Brew-Hammond, the greatest authority on energy of Africa, approved “I(Page 11 of 69)

The regions and countries are defined as follows;

RegionCountry

Northern
AfricaAlgeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, CanaryIslands (Spain)

Western
AfricaBenin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia,
Liberia,
Mali,
Ghana,
Guinea,Guinea-Bissau,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena Ascension andTristan da Cunha (UK), Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

Eastern
AfricaBurundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte (France),
Mozambique, Réunion (France), Rwanda, Seychelles,
Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

CentralAfricaAngola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad,
Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial
Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe

Southern
AfricaCeuta (Spain), Madeira Islands (Portugal), Melilla(Spain), Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South
Africa, Swaziland

have definitely never seen a map like this before and I can confirm that this is very originalcontribution to the current debate on increasing energy access in Africa”(Page 12 of 69)

2.

The outline of Energy in Africa(Page 13 of 69)

2-1 Purpose of this Chapter
Chapter two “The outline of Energy in Africa” is written to review the present energy
demand and supply about Africa, principally from statistical data of fossil fuels. However, it
should be noted that as most energy consumed in poor African countries is non-commercial(biomass or kerosene), these statistic figures does not give account for all.

2-2 Petroleum

Figure 2 Crude Oil Reserves by Region

2-2-1 Africa in the World
Along with the rapidly rising oil
demand and oil prices, not only world oil
majors but also national oil companies ofChina or Russia have been investing hugeamount for African crude oil interests. For
example China National Offshore Oil
Corporation (CNOOC), who failed to buy
Unocal Corporation of US, secured theinterests of Nigeria 2 , Kenya 3 , andTable 1 World Oil Production

Uganda 4 . As well, China National
Petroleum Corp (CNPC) reached an oil
and gas cooperation agreement with
Nigeria and won the tender 5. Moreover,Sino Union Energy Investment Group
Ltd. bought 10% shares of Madagascar
Petroleum

International

Limited(“MPIL”) 6 . Meanwhile from Russia,
Gazprom is gaining ground for Nigeria"Cnooc Buys Oil Interest In Nigeria", 10 Jan 2006, Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901779.html
3 "China's CNOOC drills Kenya's deepest oil well", Oct 28, 2009, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLS68117820091028
4 "Uganda holds oil talks with Total, CNOOC", Market Watch, June 26, 2010,
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uganda-holds-oil-talks-with-total-cnooc-2010-06-26
5 “CNPC may expand its Nigerian oil refinery”, March 03rd, 2008, Shanghai Daily,
http://china-wire.org/?p=65
6 "Sino Union Hits Oil on Madagascar", November 10, 2009, Petroleum Africa
http://www.petroleumafrica.com/en/newsarticle.php?NewsID=8622&PHPSESSID=6f13c24c
6bce7992aa438f2400c7e685
2(Page 14 of 69)

and Libya, and Lukoil attempted to buy the oil field of Uganda (but failed)7.
Although the African continent shares one fourth of world oil reserve (Figure 1), they
are consuming only 3.5 percent of petroleum products of the world (Table 1) because African
oil producing nations are just pulling out from their underground or sea, and exporting toOECD countries.
More than 60 percent of oil is used for transportation in Africa 8 . The top five oil
consumers Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Libya and Algeria are all coastal countries, who
are oil producers in turn. So, the much of their huge consumption of oil should be accounted
for tanker oil or used for refineries.
With regard to land transportation, the African continent accounts for 20.4% of theworld’s land, and the people live across theirextensive national land. However, only major

Table 2 Oil Consumption of Africa by Region

roads are paved by concrete, and others arerough roads. Of course most people cannot
afford neither a car nor gasoline, so it can beconcluded that only a few people or companies
or governments consume almost all oil in
Africa by their motor vehicles.

2-2-2 Africa by Region
In 2007, The largest oil consumer in Africa was Egypt who shares 21.6 percent, followedby South Africa (18.2%), Nigeria (9.3%) and the top three countries share almost half
(49.1%) of Africa. And added by Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, Kenya, and Angola,
82.2% of oil in Africa is consumed by just ten
countries.

And

when

countedFigure 3 Oil Consumption of Northern Africabyregion, North, South and Central Africa
shares 87 percent for oil consumption of all
regions 9.

2-2-3 Northern Africa
In

Northern

Africa,Egypt,

Libya

and Algeria uses 76.9% of oil products.
Egypt, the first oil producing nation in“Russia's LUKOIL eyes Uganda's oil industry”, 8 Feb 2010, Reuters
http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE61706820100208
8 2008 Energy Balance for Africa, IEA
9 International Energy Statistics, The U.S. Energy Information Administration
7(Page 15 of 69)

Africa started its industry from 1860 (Egypt has 150 years history of oil production 10) also
has a pipeline to convey Middle East oil to the Mediterranean Sea. More importantly, Egypt
is an important international transit point of oil, located with the great Suez Canal. Algeria
and Libya are also major oil producers.
Figure 4 Oil Consumption of Western Africa

2-2-4 Western Africa
Nigeria, who consumes more thanhalf of oil in this region is the largest oil
producer not only in Western Africa, butalso in Africa. The 5th oil producer of
OPEC entered into a 23 billion dollar oil
exploration contract with China on May
2010, and also established a joint venturewith Russian Gazprom on September
2008. On the other hand Nigeria isfrequently experiencing strikes or riot of oils workers, and stops the supply 11.
Added with Ghana (9.6%), Senegal (7.3%) and Cote d’Ivoire (5.5%), the four countries
use 79.2 percent of petroleum products in Western Africa. Ghana has recently attracting
attention for its offshore oil fields, and world Oil Majors such as Total, Exxon Mobil, BP andChina CNOOC have been scrambling to
the 18 billion barrel oil field 12.

Figure 5 Oil Consumption of Eastern Africa

2-2-5 Eastern Africa
In

Eastern

Africa,Kenya(26.4%),

Ethiopia(12.2%)

andTanzania(10.1%)

shares48.7

percent of oil products consumption.
Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia
areequipped

harbors

which

with

importantpassalmostallmaritime trade package goes in andout, and island country Madagascar
is of course faced with the sea, so
their oil consumption consequently rises.
The Industry Overview - Egypt Oil & Gas http://www.egyptoil-gas.com/overview.php
Global Issues http://www.globalissues.org/article/86/nigeria-and-oil
12 "Cnooc, GNPC Said to Bid $5 Billion for Jubilee Stake", 22 Oct 2010, BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-22/cnooc-gnpc-said-to-bid-5-billion-for-jubilee-stake.html
1011(Page 16 of 69)

Although this region stands for only 9.2 percent of oil consumption for Africa for year
2007, East African countries who have been showing steady and rapid economic growth forthese years 13 , are now moving toward to form the East African Community (EAC), a
regional intergovernmental organization of
the Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda
and Burundi with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Figure 6 Oil Consumption of Central Africa

2-2-6 Central Africa
In Central Africa, Angola
alone

explains

47.3

ofpetroleum

percent
product

consumption in 2007, is followed
by Cameroon (21.3%), Gabon(11.3%), Congo / Kinshasa (8.7%)
and Congo / Brazzaville (6.7%)
which

are alloilproducers,

shares 95.3 percent of oil inCentral Africa.

2-2-7 Southern Africa
South Africa, the largest
economyin

Figure 7 Oil Consumption of Southern Africa

Africaconsumes 18.2 percent of
the whole continent and91.2 percent in the region.
Although a huge coalexporter and an offshore oil
produceritself,South

Africa has to import a big
amount of crude oil from
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait,
Russia, Angola and Nigeria
to meet the domestic oil
demand In other words,

THE ECONOMICS OF BURUNDI, KENYA, RWANDA, TANZANIA AND UGANDA By
Peter Stein, Stein Brothers AB Report prepared for Swedfund International AB Spring 201013

(Page 17 of 69)

South Africa is abundant in solid fuel but in short of liquid fuel 14.

2-3 Natural Gas

Figure 8 World Natural Gas Consumption, by Region

2-3-1 Africa in the World
Africa is the least natural
gas consumer in the world. Mostof

Africa’s

known

naturalgas reserves (78 percent) arein Nigeria. The rest are mainly
in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Angola,
Mozambique,

NamibiaandTanzania.

2-3-2 Africa by Region
Although large natural gas field wasfound in Nile Delta (Egypt) or in Hassi

Table 3 Africa Natural Gas Consumption top 10(Algeria), the major thermal power fuel iscoal, and therefore natural gas consumption
is so less compared with other regions. Evenin Nigeria, almost all natural gas isconsumed not for thermal power generation
but for industrial.
Therefore, the consumers of natural gas
in Africa are very limited. The top fivecountries consumes 90.5%, and the top 10 countries share 99.5%, which means only 10
countries among 56 African nations consumes dry natural gas.

2–4 Coal
2-4-1 Africa in the WorldIn 2007, Africa produced 4.0 percent and consumed 3.1% of coal of the world. On theother hand 99.7percent of production and 95.3 percent of consumption is concentrated inSouthern Africa region. 95 percent of electric power in the Republic of South Africa isgenerated by coal (the remaining 5% is nuclear).
International Energy Statistics, The U.S. Energy Information Administration
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/South_Africa/Oil.html

14(Page 18 of 69)

Figure 9 World Coal Consumption

Figure 10 Coal Consumption of Africa byRegion2 –5 Grid Electricity
Figure 12 Electricity Generation of Africa by Source

2-5-1 Africa in the World
In

2007,

the

Africancountries used only 3.1 percent ofelectricity generated on the earth.
Although a huge amount ofoil, natural gas and coal is
produced in African countries,
the majority of mineral resources
areexportedratherthandomestic usage.

Table 4 World Electricity Generation by source and region(Page 19 of 69)

Table 5 Electricity Generation of
Africa by Source

Figure 13 World PV Market (2009)

The dominant electric source in Africa is thermal, and most of them are generated
from coal fired power plants in the Republic of South Africa, by state owned powercompany Eskom.
We should be aware that in Africa, the power capacity does not mean the amount ofgenerator output that can supply electricity to the grid, because most facilities of power
stations, substations and power lines have not given proper maintenance. For example theavailable capacity of SNEL (Société nationale d'électricité), Congo DRC is 48 percent(2007), and ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority), Zimbabwe is 55% (2007),
according to The Southern African Power Pool 15. Therefore, Congo DRC and Zimbabwe arelosing 1,272 megawatt, and 920 megawatt respectively. Besides, Boali 1 and 2 Hydro
Power Stations, the main generators in the Central African Republic, has not provided
maintenance since they were commissioned from 1954 and 1976 16. And among six thermal
generators in the country, only one is operating.
Old power equipment not only brings lowered efficiency but also blackouts, so many
African countries have been suffering from abrupt discontinuation of power supply, whichcauses serious economic losses to industry.

15
16

Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) Annual Report 2009
The Electric Power Industry of Overseas Countries Vol. 2, JEPIC, Mar, 2010

(Page 20 of 69)

2-5-2 Africa by Region
Table 6 Electricity Generation of Africa by Source and Region

In 2007, Northern and southern African countries generated 81.1 percent of electric
power in Africa, which means the remaining three regions just less than 20 percent.
Moreover, South African region generated 70 percent of electricity in SSA countries. The
reason is clear, northern and southern Africa are huge resources (needless to say oil, gas,coal, uranium, diamond, bauxite, …) exporters while most of the economy of othercountries are based on agriculture. And in context of power sources, while Northern andSouthern African countries mainly uses thermal (more than 90 percent), Eastern andCentral African countries heavily relies on hydro-electric power which quite often causes
power crisis due to droughts.

2-5-3 Electrification Rate by Region and Country
With reference to their similar geological, meteorological and historical background,
African regions characterize their countries in some phases, such as language, natural
resources, or industry. However when it comes to electrification rate, it is widely believed
that;Northern Africa……Relatively high (Only Sudan shows low electrification rate)
Other regions………No tendency (But Southern Africa is somewhat better than other regions
because Eskom of South Africa is providing power to neighboring countries)(Page 21 of 69)

Table 6 shows many African countries except Northern Africa have very low electricity
Table 7 Electrification Rate of African Countries

access, and most of them are LDCs
(Least Developed Countries) as well.
Even in the major oil producing
countries such as Angola (74% noaccess to electricity), Sudan (69%)
and Gabon (63%), the electric grid isextended to just from 26% to 37% of
their population.
And we can also learn from
Table 6 that among the 22 countries
with electricity access less than 20%,
95% countries are LDCs. Only
Kenya is not the LDC member, but
the reason is not because Kenya is a
wealthy country but because thecountry has a steady income as themain trading port of Eastern Africa,and somewhat industrialized thanother countries. In Kenya, most ofthepopulation

lives

without

electricity outside of capital Nairobi,
and remains still very poor.

(Page 22 of 69)

We can further see that almost all electric power in Africa is supplied by national
owned company, whether the rural electrification rate is high or low, so we can say
privatization of power utility is not requisite for developing power. On the other hand, thepolicy planning and achieving is rather important.

Table 7B Electric Power supply structure of Sub-Saharan African countries
Power supply
RegionCountry

Northern
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Western
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
Eastern
CentralCentralCentralCentralCentral

Sudan
Benin
Burkina Faso
Côte d'Ivoire
GambiaGhana
GuineaGuiné-Bissau
Liberia
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
SenegalSierra Leone
Togo
BurundiEritria
Ethiopia
Kenya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
RwandaSomalia
Tanzania
UgandaZambiaAngolaCameroon
Central Africa
Chad
Congo DRC

National
Company

PrivateCompany

Rural electrification
Government

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

●
●
●

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

PrivateCompany

●
●
●
●

●

Non-electrification rate

31%
25%
10%
47%
8%
54%
20%
11%
3%
17%
30%
9%
47%
42%
5%
20%
3%
32%
15%
15%
19%
9%

5%
●
●

●

●

●

(Page 23 of 69)

11%
9%
19%
26%
29%
5%
3%
11%

CentralCentralSouthern
Southern
Southern
Southern
Southern
Southern

Gabon
Republic ofCongo
Botswana
LesothoNamibiaSouth Africa
Swaziland
Zimbabwe

37%

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

●
●
●
●
●

45%
16%
34%
75%
30%
41%

2-6 Summing-up
This chapter overviewed the production and consumption of macro fossil fuel in Africa,
and it can be concluded that most of the gas and oil is consumed in the Northern region, theRepublic of South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola. Natural gas is not so dominant in Africa.
With regard to coal, 99.7percent of production and 95.3 percent of consumption isconcentrated in Southern Africa region.
In most of developed countries, electricity is generated by thermal (coal or natural gas),on the other hand developing countries rely on hydro or diesel. From another perspective,
Eskom of the Republic of South Africa generated 70 percent of electricity in SSA countries.
Here we can conclude that the consumption of energy in Africa is well IMBALANCED,
more than the disproportion of mineral resources. Many people feel the energy in Africa is in
imbalance, but we could see HOW imbalanced(Page 24 of 69)

3.

Analysis of sustainable offgrid energy
technology options for African Bottom
Billion(Page 25 of 69)

3-1 Purpose of this chapter
The purpose of this chapter “Analysis of sustainable energy technology options for
African Bottom Billion”, is to first turn up the energy needs of rural African people, andthen to focus on sustainable energy technologies by collecting up projects on the ground of
Africa.

3-2 Basic Needs for Energy
The needs for energy can be well described along with the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) 17.

Table 8 UN Millennium Development Goals and energy demand
Goal

Mechanica
l power
Irrigation,
farming,transporta
tion

Heating/cooling
Cooking
stoves,husking

Cooking
stoves, LPG

Goal
1

End
povertyand hunger

Goal
2

Universal
education

Goal
3

GenderEquality

Goal
4
Goal
5

Child HealthMaternal
HealthTransport
ation,
farming,husking,
Transport
ation
Transport
ation

Goal
6
Goal
7

Combat HIV /AIDSEnvironmental
Sustainability

Transport
ation
Transport
ation

Goal
8

GlobalPartnershipTransport
ation

17

Warming,cooling

Electricity, ICT
Lighting, motor, communication,
computers
Lighting, data processing,
printing, Communication, TV,
computers
Communication, computers

Warming

Communication, computers

Warming,cooling
vaccineMedical apparatus,
Communication, computers,
computers
Medical apparatus,
Communication, computers
Communication, computers

Efficientheating,cooling

Communication, computers

United Nations, Division for Sustainable Development, Global village energy partnership(Page 26 of 69)

Table 8B Demand and technologies of offgrid energy
Unstable energy
DemandStable energy

Solar +

Wind+

Micro

battery

battery

Hydro

Lighting

○

○

motor

×
○（mobile

communication

phone)

Biogas

MFP

LPG

○

○

○

×

○

○

○

○

×

○

○

○

○

×

computers

×

○

○

○

○

×

printing

×

○

○

○

○

×

TV

×

○

○

○

○

×

husking

×

×

○

○

○

×

cooling vaccine

○

○

○

○

○

×

Irrigation

○

○

○

○

×

Cooking stoves

×

×

×

×

×

○

Warming

×

×

×

×

×

○

○
(mechanical)

Micro hydro, biogas and multi-functional platform can be regarded as on-grid energy,
as long as they can secure water flow, waste or diesel fuel. Solar and wind can supply small
amount of energy when they are equipped with battery. But as electricity is not suitable tocause fever, LPG is needed for cooking or warming. Wind energy for irrigation is better to
use the mechanical power, not converting electricity because the efficiency of direct
pumping is quite superior than once converting to electricity.

<Water, irrigation and energy>
Clean water is one of the most important factor tolive on, but many Africans have to walk for hours
every

day,

to

fetch

water.

Howeverthese

years, underground water can be pumped by windturbines,

solar

or

biogas,andirrigationforagriculture can also be run by solar. Moreover, amultifunctional platform can supply clean water to avillage, and run a husker.

(Page 27 of 69)

Figure 14
pumping
Aquameter)Prepaidsystemunderwater(Source:<Cooking and energy>
As principal diet in SSA (yams, maids, plantain, beans) needs to be boiled or fried,
many woman and children in SSA have to walk around to fetch biomass. Moreover, thesmoke from cooking stoves hurt the pulmones of many women, which causes serious
diseases 18. One solution was made by Ghana Government, to prepare a supply chainof LPG to the villages 19. Solar cookers are another approach for clean cooking but as theinitial cost is quite often too expensive for African bottom billions, they are not yet so
popular (They are also less efficient at this stage).
<Education and energy>
In rural Africa, still many children cannot go toschool because they have to work for daily life. If an MFPFigure 15 A school in rural
Azanu Public School, Ghana(24th September 2010, photo
credit: Author)

supply water to households or grind cereals, children can
go to school. Many schools are not connected with theelectric gird, so the students can only study in a darkroom in daytime. A solar battery charger can supply lightfor classrooms. If a teacher can use a computer andprinter, he can record everything about the students, andhe can also print out many useful documents.
< Gender Equality and energy>
The MFP was invented for village women, for their Gender Equality. As the same
reason with children, many women can avoid the tired, boring, and risky work of water /biomass collecting. Moreover, some women established own job so that they can earn cashby themselves 20.
<Health and energy>
In rural Africa, many hospitals are in lack of gas

Figure 16 A solar(Source: GVEP)

refrigerator

electricity, so the meet difficulty in urgent patient in
the night. As well, sterilization is difficult without gas.
And they cannot update their knowledge or missimportant news without TVs, or internet. And solar
power refrigerators are becoming popular.
< Mobile Phones and energy >GVEP 2003 Annual Report
Cited from e-mail discussion between Professor Abeeku Brew-Hammond, KNUST Ghana
and the author, on October 2006
20 "There is huge room for eMulti-Functional Platform in Senegal", June 22, 2007, UNDP,
http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/senegal
18
19(Page 28 of 69)

While many African bottom billions in the 21th century uses mobile phone, most ofthem are not connected with the electric grid, and they have no access to modern energy.
The reason why even people who even don’t have lights in their house can use mobile
phones, is because the consumed power of mobile phone is so little, and they run by battery
which can be charged at the village (the charging of mobile phones don’t need gridelectricity in their house). As well, they can be used at almost anywhere, as long as they
are in service area.
Of course they have to pay a lot for communication charge and to charge the battery,
but as the required electric power is quite less than other apparatus, such as lights, TVs,fans, refrigerators or washing machine, which are commonly used in OECD households,
and of course communication is very important for daily work and life, mobile phonequickly spread around entire Africa.

And recently, some mobile phones are able toconnect to the internet, so Africans can use Google and other PC services.
Figure 17 Photovoltaic Market in 2009

3-3 Solar
In the developed world, PV (photovoltaic)
has been growing very rapidly, with support of
hospitable subsidies and Feed-in Tariff (FIT)
policy to urge the development to utilities,
households and building roofs, and local
authorities. In 2009, 77 percent of PV in theworld has been installed at EU countries(Germany, Italy, Czech and others), while theformer world champion Japan shared 6 percent, and the US, widely backed-up by
President Obama’s green energy policy, was 7
Figure 18 Solar Shop “Kenital
Solar", Kenya(1st November
2008, photo credit: Author)

percent 21.
Driven by international projects, Africa was
the world leading market in the 1990s. But while
the developed world developed so fast in thisdecade, the small houses equipped with solar
system in entire Africa remained unchanged witha few hundred thousands, the market share of
Africa scaled-back as a part of “rest of the world”,

Marketbuzz 2009: Annual World Solar PV Market Report
http://www.solarbuzz.com/Marketbuzz2009-intro.htm

21(Page 29 of 69)

which accounts for 10 percent.
Actually, many PV systems installed in Africa are donations from former colonial
powers, international organizations, NGOs and individuals (Of course, some donations
came from African governments, firms and individuals, but support from EU, USA, China,
Japan and Russia remains the large part).
Figure 20 Product lineup of Chloride Excide(Source: Chloride Excide)

In that case, the life of the systemdepends not on the status of solar panel
but predominantly on the life of battery,
because while solar panels can be used for
more

than

five,

or

even

ten

years, batteries can only work for two or
three years at best. Therefore, the lucky
households, hospitals or schools which were donated solar system, should prepare for the
Figure 22 Solar mobile phone charger in Tomefa
Village, Ghana (20th September 2010, photo credit:
Author)next battery every two or three years. And
in

case

the

donorsselected

Chineseor Indian solar systems (to reduce theirexpense), many plants fail to provide theirguaranteedperformance,

and

very

often, break down over a short term.
However, some private solar shops arein business some African countries. For
example in Kenya, a local capital solar shop“Kenital Solar (Figure 15)” which was established in 1988, is now selling various types ofsolar systems to Kenyan people, and has been earning sound profit for years. They are
selling solar systems, solar refrigerators and solar water pumps.
Another solar shop in Kenya“Chloride Excide” (Figure 16) was established in 1963 by
UK capital. There are totally eleven shops in Kenya, and more shops in other East Africancountries, such as Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of theCongo. Chloride is not a specialized store of PV, selling wind power generators or car
batteries, but the PV system was laid on the closest area from the main entrance, and alarge advertising display of “Solar” is put next to the shop logo. Presently the shares havebeen totally sold to Kenyan local capital, but their mail products are still UK brand, andthey sell BP solar which is the major UK solar manufacturer. However, they also sell solar
panels of Total Energie (South Africa), Suntech (China), charge controllers of Morning Star
(USA) and Phocos (Germany), inverters of Xantrex Canada (China), solar lights of Phocos(Germany), and solar refrigerators of Sundanzer (Hungary).
As the electric power is unstable in many African countries, some people who are evenconnected to the electric grid invest on solar home systems.

(Page 30 of 69)

== Local Solar Business ==Although the global price for solar panels have been selling off rapidly, a household
photo voltaic system is still not affordable for African bottom billions. However if a solar
system is donated to a village, it can not only offer sustainable jobs, but it can dramaticallychange the economy of villagers.

<Case One: Tomefa Village, Ghana>People in Tomefa
Village, Ghana, live on

Figure 22 Solar mobile phone charger in Tomefa Village,
Ghana (20th September 2010, photo credit: Author)

fishing at Lake Volta.
As the village is too far
away from the electric
grid,

the

priority

to extend the grid tothis village is very low
forElectricity

Companyof

Thana

Limited / ECG, who supplies electricity to Southern Ghana.

Therefore, as an onsite

generator, the Ministry of Energy installed a small wind turbine. However, as the windturbine has been broken for many years, no electricity at all has been consumed in Tomefa
Village. So, when a villager charges a mobile phone, she or he has to use a taxi (or boat) to
go to the closest town, which cost them 50 Pesewa (around U$ 0.35), pay 50 Pesewa(around U$ 0.35) for charging, and then pay 50 Pesewa (around U$ 0.35) to come back,totally 1.5 Ghanaian cedi (around U$ 1.4) 22. They can go by boats to lower the cost, but asthey are fishermen who know the risk to rollover, they don’t want to use them. Equallyimportant, one day should be used for mobile phone charging if they go and return by boats,
which deprives them of time to earn money.
Usually, mobile phones are needed charging every four or five days. And as thevillagers of Tomefa are fishermen, they are in more need of mobile phones to make contact
with people on the ground. Therefore, Tomefa villagers had to pay more than ten Ghanaian
cedi (around U$ 51) per month. If there are five people in a family, roughly fifty Ghanaian
cedi (around U$ 255) per month, which is too much for fishermen whose monthly income issometimes less than fifty Ghanaian cedi (around U$ 255).
Then the Ministry of Energy, along with Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA), donated a solar panel to the village which started operation on 22th September
2009. A mobile phone can be charged by 40 Pesewa (around U$ 0.28), 27 percent of theformer total charge.
Cited from the hearing investigation to three fishermen of Tomefa Village, Ghana, on 20th
September 201022

(Page 31 of 69)

Within the 40 Pesewa, some amount is paid for the three administrative men who takecare of charging, operating the chargers or distributors, which means that the solar mobile
charging system is also providing jobs.

<Case Two: Bleamezado Village, Ghana>
Similar to Tomefa, the Ministry of Energy of Ghana, along with Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA), donated a solar panel to Bleamezado Village. The charge fee
for a mobile phone is 30 Pesewa (around U$ 0.21), because the villagers or Bleamezado arepoorer than Tomefa and not able to afford 30 Pesewa (around U$ 0.28).
Figure 23 , 24 Solar mobile phone charger in Bleamezado
Village, Ghana (24th September 2010, photo credit: Author)

Bleamezado Village is a farm, so most of the villagers earn money only two times per
year (such like many other farmers in Africa). In contrast, Tomefa fishermen can have
daily income when they sell their fish.
The income of a typical farmer in
Bleamezado Village is between 30 Ghanaian

Figure25
TheadministratorofBleamezado
Solarsystem(24th
September 2010, photo credit: Author)

cedi (around U$ 20) and 100 Ghanaian cedi
(around U$ 70), depending on their crop 23.
When their income is at the bottom (30Ghanaian cedi / U$ 20), a family with fivepeople have to pay more than 9 Ghanaian
cedi / U$ 6.24), roughly one third of theirincome for mobile phone charging. Even the
Bleamezado Village is very lucky to be
selected as the site to install the solar panel,
the mobile phone charging heavily weighs on their domestic economy.
On the other hand, one lady got a job by looking after the villagers’ mobile phones. A
mother of two young boys, she always take care of them, especially the younger one.
Cited from the interview with the Administrator of Bleamezado Village and Mr. John
Smorley, Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology, on 24th September 201023

(Page 32 of 69)

*************************
From the two cases in Ghana, it was proven that the African bottom billions cangreatly improve their economy, even from the smallest energy of solar. And the solar panels
can even create new jobs. However, two large challenges still not solved;
1. The African bottom billion cannot afford solar systems.
2. Solar charging is just a fraction of the need, and the final goal is the access tosustainable, reliable and affordable electricity which can only be supplied by theelectric grid.
== Solar Heater ==In businesses, such as hotels, hospitals or factories, rather than individual households,
solar heaters are better utilized. For example on the roof of the African Regent Hotel in
Accra, Ghana, 52 solar panels and 26 tanks have been supplying heating water for the
hotel since it was opened 24.
There is some demand for solar water heaters, but many of the purchasers buy just for
fashion rather than practical use. (These type of people who buy solar heater just forwell-looking can be found all around in
Africa.)Figure 26 International Solar Power Potential== Central Solar Power (CSP) ==A strong sunshine seems to be goodfor solar power, but too high temperature
conversely lowers the efficiency of solar
panel. Therefore, photo voltaics is notalways the best usage for solar power.
Many part of the African continent lay
under very strong sunshine (even South
Africa has stronger Annual radiation
than Jordan).
A much more leading-edge solar technology, compared with photo voltaic system orsolar heater, is Central Solar Power(CSP). Many CSP projects have been
started recently in Spain, the UnitedFigure 27 Central Solar Power (CSP) system(source: DESERTEC)

States, and in the Middle East.
A CSP plant collects reflectedradiation of the sun from thousands ofCited from the interview with the manager of African Regent Hotel in Accra, Ghana, on
19th November 201024

(Page 33 of 69)

mirrors which track the sun to the top of 150 to 200 meters high the central receiver, andthen irradiates them to the molten salt. The salt then generates steam to motivate a steam
turbine, same as a common steam turbine generator. One big advantage for thiscomplicated system is that, as the salt stores heat of concentrated sunshine, the turbine
still keeps working for 7 or 8 hours even after the sunset.
The largest CSP project to date is “Desertec” funded by the DESERTEC Foundation,
mainly promoted by a Swiss electrical engineering company ABB, which is developing the
CSP system.
Their spectacular plan is to generate electricity by CSPs located in Northern Africa,
and then transmit them to Europe (under sea) and Middle East via high Voltage direct
current (HVDC) cables, which is
theiranothercompetitive

Figure 28 DESERTEC Project (source: DESERTEC))

technology 25.
The idea itself to convert
unlimited energy of the sun toelectricity, and to export to Europe
is not so bad, but the compositionis similar to how the European
peopletook

outresources

toEurope or the rest of world.
Simply put, the electricity generated by Desertec would not reach to most of African
bottom billion, because;
A) As the conversion system (from DC to AC) is very expensive 26, very few would beconstructed for local usage.
B) Even if the fund for a conversion system was raised, a very expensive substation is
also needed to supply electricity.
C) And even if a conversion system and a substation was financed, a long long grid isneeded to deliver the electricity to people.
D) Many people in the Northern African area already has access to electricity.
E) There is neither duty nor motivation for the Desertec or the Northern Africancountries to send their power to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Desertec website http://www.desertec.org/en/concept/technologies/
Comparison of Costs and Benefits for DC and - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CC8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.w2agz.com%2FLibrary%2FPower%2520Delivery%2FAC-DC%2520Cost%2520Comp
arison%2520ORNL-6204.pdf&ei=U0v2TMuxE4HCvgOMtZmyCw&usg=AFQjCNHI65yGez
LiitV_fJSK4NxGQkAV6A

25
26(Page 34 of 69)

3-4 Wind
According to AfriWEA (African Wind Energy Association)

Figure 29 Zafarana 430MW
wind
farm
in
Egypt
(source: NREA, Egypt
Govt.)

website, although the wind power resource is relatively low inthe equatorial belt region, Northern and Southern area
is abundant in strong wind. And with respect to the wind power
market, whereas only 148MW was the total wind capacity in
Africa in the year 2002, which accounts 0.5 percent of global
market, large scale wind farm has been planned recently.
For example, there are some large wind farms in Morocco.
Tetouan wind farm (54 MW in operation since the year 2000,
Over 200 000 MWh/year), Amogdoul wind farm (60 MW in
operation since April 13th 2007) and Dahr Saadane wind farm(140 MW in operation since June 28 2010, generating around 536 GWh per year).
The Zafarana wind farm in Egypt, owned by New & Renewable Energy Authority(NREA) of Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity & Energy (MEE) and financed by Denmark,Germany and Spain, is the largest wind farm in Africa. The total output would be 430MW,
and will be completed within ten years.
On March 31, Japanese JICA signed to supply fund for 220MW wind farm to thes
Egyptian Government. More recently, the Egypt Government approved a 1,000MW
offshore wind plant in the Suez on July 2nd 2010, which will be completed until 2020.
== Small Wind Turbines ==African Wind Power, a manufacturer of small scalewind turbines (from 0.5kW to 1kW) based in South
Africa, has installed plants in Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. (Theyhave also built plants in the United States, Canada,
United Kingdom Scotland and Antarctica).
Most are small wind turbine owners are public or
private firms, and some of them are donated by foreign
governments. The 3kW plant in Mozambique is supplying
power for water pumping, power tools lighting andcommunications to eco-friendly tourist resort. In
Namibia, the wind turbine is operated with PV systemand diesel generator as hybrid renewable power systemfrom 1999, feeding electricity to a lodge house andrestaurant equipped with a Ranch welcoming tourists. In(Page 35 of 69)

Figure 30 Small Wind
Power plant in Zimbabwe(Source: AfriWEA)

South Africa, the state owned telecommunication Service provider is operating telephone
hubs by the power from wind turbines. The Dutch Government donated small windturbines to a fishing co-operative village, and to a clinic in Zimbabwe.
== Local Wind Turbine Supplier ==Unlike solar panels, wind turbine seems affordable by relatively simple technology, somany local wind turbine suppliers might be found in Africa. For one case, one wealthy man
in Tema, Ghana who was fed up with everyday blackout telephoned one the owner of local
electric shop(Figure 26) Mr. Emmanuel Ecanssey, presently 56 year old (Figure 26), andordered him to design, manufacture, install and operate a wind turbine (Figure 27). Then,the local engineer Mr. Ecanssey studied about wind power generation, designed,
manufactured, and finally constructed the plant.
Figure 32, 33 Mr. Emmanuel Ecanssey, Local electric shop in Ghana(23th September 2010, photo credit: Author)

Mr. Ecanssey who lives on repair or modification of electrical equipment at his tiny
workshop, designed the wind turbine and generator, collected parts, finished fundamental
construction, assembled and wired the whole plant, and unbelievably, the first hand-madewind plant has been operating for 4 years since 20006, without any failure. The generated
power is stored in the accumulators, and consumed in night, because the demand ofelectricity for the household is very low in the daytime 27.

Figure 33, 34 Local made 1kW wind turbine in Ghana (23th September 2010, photo
credit: Author)

Cited from the interview with Mr. Emmanuel Ecanssey on 23rd September 2010 at hiselectrical shop, Ghana (figure 27)

27(Page 36 of 69)

Presently Mr. Ecanssey is giving advice to another wind turbine project of Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST, the most famed engineeringcollege in Africa), but most of the time he stays in his small workshop as he has been doing
for decades.
This engineer Mr. Ecanssey might be a special case, but it can also be an important
example to prove that sustainable energy is able to be developed by local African village.
Figure 35 Land potentially available for biofuel
production

3-5 Biofuel
While Africa has the second largest
biofuel potential in the world, only next
to Asia, no country has become abiofuel-dominant country like Brazil.
The first reason why they have notbecame like Brazil isbecause theethanol in that country is developed by
the state owned company Petrobras. Second reason is the lack of infrastructure toexport the biofuel to EU or to the US, their main markets. The third reason is the buying
power from their customers, namely EU, United States and Japan because all of them
have a compulsory target of biofuel mixture, and thinking to purchase biofuel from Africa
to meet the target.
*************************
When the crude oil price jumped to 150 dollars in year 2008, biofuel projects werestarted all over the world, of course including Africa. The main driver of the boom was notethanol which requires huge investment for refinery, but jatropha biodiesel because;(Page 37 of 69)

Jatropha does not need so much water
Jatropha can be grown up in many areas (Africa, Asia, United States, SouthAmerica, Australia, Europe, and even in Russia)
Jatropha is a nonfood crop
Jatropha can be harvested three or four times per year
Jatropha is already familiar to many farmers as a material of soap, support forvines (such as grapes or vanillas), or repellent harmful wild animals
In Kenya, an NGO “Green Africa Foundation” which is closely related to the Kenyan
Government, has been operating a jatropha test farm for years, and ready to start
commercial farm 28. (Just waiting for finance.)
Figure 36 Jatropha test plant in Kenya (17th Noveember 2007, Kitui, Kenya, photo
credit: Author), Figure 37 Wild Jatropha fruit in Uganda (11th Noveember 2007, Hoima,
Uganda, photo credit: Author)

Figure 38 Interview with Ambassador
Dennis Awori (the Kenyan Embassy toJapan, on 14th October 2008, photo credit:

When the author visited Uganda and
Kenya for marketing research of jatropha,
we were welcomed with great courtesy bytheGovernments

andInvestment

Authorities who were earnestly searchingbusiness chances for biofuel business. And
after

our

jatropha

press

conference

business

in

about

Kenya

the
was

Cited from the interview with the founder / Chairman of Green Africa Foundation, Kitui,
Kenya, on 17th November 2007
28

(Page 38 of 69)

broadcasted on TVs and CNN 29, the author received numerous emails from farmers ordevelopers in Africa, and even from India who wanted to join the project. Unfortunately we
could not continue the jatropha business, however we became aware many people arewilling to biofuel business in Africa 30.
Then, why no major African biofuel company has appeared till now? The first reason is
the sudden drop of crude oil prices, which made almost all biofuel projects to be
unprofitable. Next, the Subprime mortgage crisis and the financial crisis made developers
difficult to raise funds. Moreover, oil majors began investing in other profitable biofuel
sources, such as algae.
All in all, no major and serious money began biofuel in Africa until now, and no viablebiofuel policy has been realized yet. In some countries, targets for biofuel has beenenshrine into law, but many of them are lacking the roadmap toward the goal.

3-6 Biogas
In the rural area of many developing countries, human and animal waste is justreleased to nature, so causing the a big problems such as followings 31;
Degradation of surface water bodies
Contamination of Underground water
Health hazards from discharge of pathogens
Reduction of marine ecosystem productivity
Odor Nuisance and health-related
Figure 39 A Biogas plant at African
Regent Hotel in Accra (19th September
2010, photo credit: Author)

impacts
The biogas technology has been developedin Africa for more than thirty years, that
supplies sanitary toilets, prevents wastes toharm underground water, supplies gas forcooking, and even supply gas for power
generation. In the villages, the animal waste
annoying the families can be stored andcapped with a top, so that the ugly smell nolonger hang over.
One advantage for biogas plant is, when
there is a people, the power source is provided

The press conference was held on 18th November 2007, at the Kenyatta ConferenceCentre, Nairobi, Kenya
30 Cited from the interview with Ambassador Dennis Awori at the Kenyan Embassy toJapan, on 144th October 2008
31 Source: Dr. John Afari Idan, BTWAL
29(Page 39 of 69)

every day. In other words, people need biogas plant for toilet, cooking and electricity, andbiogas plants need human waste that was cooked by the methane of biogas plant.
Therefore, this is very much sustainable cycle.
And not only rural farms, many kinds of buildings have been using biogas, such as
hotels, Stores, Markets, Abattoirs, Meat & Fish processing factories, Churches, Mosque’s,
PublicPlaces,Restaurants,

Hotels,Cinema's, Schools, and even Police and
Military Barracks, Prisons are benefiting

Figure 40 Dr. John Afari Idan, C.E.O,
BTWAL. (BTWAL Head Lffice, Ghana,
23th September 2010, photo credit:from biogas plants. The biogas plant at
African Regent Hotel in Accra, Ghana, hasbeen supplying with no failure since thehotel was opened from 2007.
The challenge for biogas is the capital.
According to Dr. John Afari Idan, the Chief
Executive Officer of B.T.W.A.L., the largest
biogas company in Africa, although thematerials needed for biogas plant isrelatively simple, the engineering is muchcomplicated so that the plant cannot be cheap as it looks like. Additionally, an installationof biogas plant requires a feasibility study beforehand. However, as the electricity can besupplied as cheap as 0.06 to 0.08 Ghanaian cedi (from U$ 0.04 to U$ 0.06) per
kilowatt-hour, and able to supply a public toilet service by 0.10 to 0.20 Ghanaian cedi (fromU$ 0.07 to U$ 0.14), the benefit for the African bottom billion is very large 32.

3-7 Multi-Functional Platform
Figure 41 A Multifunctional platform

The multifunctional platform (MFP) is adiesel generator accompanied with a complex
set of mechanical and electrical devices such as
grinder, husker, water pump, sewing machine,
welder, and so on. The MFP was first
introduced in Mali from 1996 to 1998 for the
first stage, providing 45 units, and now on thesecond stage which is installing 450 units to the“eligible” villages of Mali, and also to othercountries such as Senegal and Burkina Faso.

Cited from the interview with Chief Executive Officer, B.T.W.A.L., Dr. John Afari Idan on
23rd September 22010, at Accra, Ghana

32(Page 40 of 69)

(Senegal plans to establish another 400 machines by 2010 and another 600 by 2015.33)
The main purpose of MFP is to act over women’ daily routine works such as fetchingwater, grinding cereals, de-husks rice or maize, de-shells nuts, which are sharing most ofrural women’s time, and losing chances to take care of their children, parents, and earnmoney.
The MFP was deployed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), theUN's global anti-poverty agency in charge of the global development. The UNDP
financially supports the dissemination of MFP with NGOs, international organizations,and private investors, along with the Government, regional authorities, and local
authorities.
An MFP will not walk to the village by itself someday, but should be based on women’srequest. If a woman needs the help of MFP, she should form up a group of women. Next,
the group has to negotiate with the village to pay for balance of subsidy of the total cost
(between 20 and 60 percent of the $7,500 hardware cost. Some, or even many of the malevillagers are not welcoming the new payment, so many requests might get shot down at
this point.
After the women group obtained the approval from the villagers, then they apply tothe local government. Finally, the UNDP conducts a three-month feasibility study todetermine whether the village meets a population criteria for eligibility (villages have tohave between 500 and 2000 residents), and to assess the willingness and ability of thevillage to pay for the MFP. After the UNDP approves the request of a village, they install,and some people are trained for maintenance.
When a platform comes into a village, it entirely changes many lives of women,
especially for supplying them a way to earn income. For example, one woman in Senegal
started hew new business using the village's new manual sewing machine, while others
began soap manufacturing. In a village of Mali, the income of a woman of Bantantinty
Village of Senegal, the income of women rose from $10 US per year to 240 per year, 24
times. In other reports from Mali, the income for women rose from US$34 to $101 (threetimes), or from US$40 to US$100(2.5 times). The income not only made them richer, butalso independent from their husbands, and made their live in dignity 34.
However, the platforms not always work favorably. As the engine is driven by diesel,
profits from platform-related enterprises fell by 90 percent when the oil price surged in
2002. Therefore, the UNDP is now planning to develop a new platform which can be driven
33

There is huge room for eMulti-Functional Platform in Senegal, United Nations

Development

Programme,

June

22,

2007,

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/senegal
Technological Innovation: Multi-functional Platforms in Mali,
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/research/ruralelectrification/casestudies/mali/index.shtml

34(Page 41 of 69)

by local biofuel.
One more major problem comes from its multiple functions. When one small troublethat is unable for village engineer to fix, they have to wait for weeks or even months for aprofessional to visit the village. Since the battery charger of an MFP of one Senegalesevillage broke down, the related function stopped for more than two years.
And some old type MFPs cannot supply electricity, one of the most required service forthe village people, especially women. However, as their village is already installed, a newmodel, in other words electricity would never come to their village.
Figure 42 A MFP in Burkina Faso, Figure 43 Water pumped by power from
the MFP, in Burkina Faso

Figure 44 Car batteries can be powered by the MFP, in Burkina Faso, Figure
45 Children studying by television driven by the electricity from the MFP , in
Burkina Faso

(Page 42 of 69)

*************************The spread of multi-functional platforms is still under way. In Burkina Faso, 235
village communities have already set up MFPs, and as the government admited the impact
for poverty reduction, they decided to set up approximately 3,031 Multifunctional
Platforms in the country’s villages, including 2,031 with a power system or water supply,
by 2015.
As a practical solution for energy, poverty reduction and also for gender issues, themulti-functional platform is one of the best substitute tools before the electric grid isextended to the villages.

3-8 Micro Hydro power stations
In Africa, hydro-electric power is one major source for electricity because of theirabundant resources. Hydro-electric power is a typical, and most historic renewable energy,
but it has many advantages;
1.

When the output of other renewable energy such as solar or wind fluctuatewith respect to sunshine or wind, the output of micro-hydro plants areconstant, in other words reliable.

2.

When solar doesn’t work in night or rain, micro-hydro plants can supply
power in the night or in rainy / cloudy days, when people need light orother needs.

3.

At the same time, constant power supply means micro-hydro plants(basically) don’t need batteries, which lost huge of energy and costly. Inturn, micro-hydro plants can charge car batteries for home-use, and ofcourse charge mobile phones.

4.

The output of home solar system is less than 3 kilowatt (in many cases lessthan 1 kilowatt), and the output small wind power plant is also less than 1kilowatt. However, micro-hydro plants can supply 20, 30 or even 50
kilowatt, enough to electrify a village. And it means, micro-hydro plants
are able to supply electricity for mechanical power, such as water pumping,husking, drying, so the villagers can start new businesses.

5.

Most sites for micro-hydro plants are located in the rural area, and many
people live near the river.

6.

When diesel fuel required for MFPs are very expensive, micro-hydroplants needs no fuel.

7.

Micro-hydro plants basically need only little amount of maintenance (justtake care of drain ditches to remove leafs or rocks).

(Page 43 of 69)

Figure 46, 47 A micro hydro plant at the Energy Kiosk, Kibai, Kenya (30thOctober 2008, photo credit: Author)

The biggest barrier for micro-hydro plants is needless to say, their costs. And as mostof the cost comes from the construction of plant, a micro-hydro plant generally costs morethan U$ 200,000, which is a huge amount for a small village 35. Therefore, in a practicalsense, a micro-hydro plant cannot be installed in rural African village without subsidy or
grant.
Meanwhile, the location is also a big matter forthe construction. Many books or reports say “There
are huge hydro resources in Africa”, and that is not a

Figure 48 The fall close used for the
micro hydro plant at the Energy Kiosk,
Kibai, Kenya (30th October 2008,
photo credit: Author)

misreport, but they generally say so just because there
are many big rivers in Africa, and ignore therequirements for plant. As micro hydro-electric power
plants change the potential energy of water intake toelectric power (figure 44), first and foremost, a waterfall(however small or large) is required. Additionally, thewaterfall should have access for construction equipment,
but in many cases waterfalls are difficult to go by cars
because there are no roads. Moreover, the low pointshould be able to construct a house or power plant, and ofcourseshouldhave

accessforconstructionormaintenance. Finally, the village / households should be located at least within 2
kilometers from the power plant, for power transmission.
All in all, micro hydro-electric power plant is the best energy source for African bottom
billions. However, a good business scheme or subsidy is crucial at this point.

Cited from the Chief Engineer of Tanaka Hydro Corporation, Tokyo, Japan on November
2006 at the head Office of Tanaka Hydro Corporation.

35(Page 44 of 69)

3-9 Summing-up
Rural African people spend lots of time and money for their daily needs of water, cooking,food processing, agriculture, education, health, and mobile phone charging. However, as
recent energy technologies enabled some practical projects in the villages, more people
might gain advantage in the future.
Solar is a really practical solution for small amount of energy, such as mobile phonecharging. However the solar system for active projects were granted, and most of thevillages / people cannot afford them. Central Solar Power (CSP) plants can generate morethan the whole electric power of small African countries, but they are available at equatorial
or very hot deserts which are too far from the demand.
Wind energy resources is generally abundant in Northern and Southern Africa, where are
already consuming most of the energy in Africa. Local wind generator has been operating
successfully, but not so many engineers can design and build up such plants by themselves.
The feasibility needs one year, and construction cost is not cheap. Security risk for thunderand storm.
The production of biofuel is viable in many areas of Africa. Some countries have alreadydesigned policy for adding biofuel in petro or diesel, any farmers are ready to supply
jatropha. Therefore, when the investors come back to Africa, and if the crude oil price soars
up again, biofuel would gain momentum.
Biogas is a really sustainable and reliable energy technology. Wherever people or animal
lives, the biogas plant secures its fuel so as to supply heat and electricity. More importantly,
biogas plant can be a solution for both human/animal waste, and sanitary problem.
Multi-Functional Platform (MFP) can also supply reliable energy to a village. As the MFP
is principally subsidized to solve gender problem, many women can be benefitted. Howeveras the machine drives on diesel, it is vulnerable to international oil prices.
Micro hydro power plant can generate well reliable, stable power. One barrier is not somany sites are available, and another bottleneck is the construction cost, including theexpensive feasibility study.

(Page 45 of 69)

4.

Analysis of Public Policies for Rural
Electrification(Page 46 of 69)

4-1 Purpose of this chapter
The purpose of this chapter “Analysis of Public Policies for Rural Electrification” isto look into the energy policies of specific countries of the groups, and to find out why
countries made successes or fail to provide electricity access with their people.
First we would like to divide African countries into 4 groups, pursuant to electricity
access rate;
Group A --------Countries close to the goal (Electricity access more than 70%)
Group B--------Countries reaching to the goal (Electricity access 50%～69%)
Group C ------- Countries far from the goal (Electricity access 20%～49%)
Group D ------- Countries very far from the goal (Electricity access less than 19%)
Then, we will look into their features and energy policies.
*************************
100 percent access to grid electricity is very difficult, even in most developed countries,
because expanding the grid to far remote areas for very few people is inefficient for both
economically and electrically. As well, most the power would be lost in the air for heat, andthe Voltage would be lessened.
However, the African bottom billions have the right to get the access to sustainable,
reliable and affordable energy. Their first goal can be small solar, but the African
governments should seek the way how their people can ultimately have access to national,

regional, local or micro grid. And energy developers or financers should also find theirchance to make sustainable profit.
In Africa, the electrification rate varies from 3 percent of chad to 100 percent ofMauritius, and the factors are not orderly. However has been widely believed that

1. North Africa (except Sudan) has very high access to electricity.
2. For other regions / countries, THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATIONOFENERGY POLICY DOMINATES the economy, natural resources,
temperature, geography, colonial master and history.
On this thesis, Northern countries (except Sudan) have not been discussed because
they are neither SSA or LDC countries, and most of them have very high percentage ofelectricity access. In fact, their electricity access rates are Tunisia 99%, Algeria, 98%,
Egypt 98%, Libya 97%, Mauritius 94%, Morocco 85% 36.
And with regard to the remaining countries, we would like to look on economic /mineral status with the focus on electricity access, by grouping as follows;
36

1 February 2010 allAfrica.com(Page 47 of 69)

4-2

Group ACountries close to the goal (Electricity access more than 70%)
RegionCountry

Eastern Africa

Seychelles

Electrification
Oil
Rateproduction
*1
*2
96%
0

NaturalGas production
*3
0

GDP
/capita*48,274Southern Africa

South Africa

75%

191

115

6,648

Western Africa

Cape Verde

70%

0

0

4,040

*1 ---------- 2008, WHO-UNDP, ”The Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries”*2 ---------- 2009, thousand barrels per day, US EIA*3 ---------- 2008, Billion Cubic Feet, US EIA*4 ---------- 2009, IMF
Figure 49 Countries with electricity
access more than 70%)
Group A, the countries with energy accessmore than 70% are simple, they are the Northern /Mediterranean countries, Republic of South Africa,and some islands. In turn, when excluding
Mediterranean countries, only one country in the
African Continent has electricity access more than70%.

The Republic of South Africa (75%)= Huge supply capacity and innovative distribution =Eskom, the giant electric power utility of the Republic of South Africa generates morethan 40 percent of electric power in the African Continent, but their main customer havebeen industries of diamond, metal, coal.
However the South Africa Government promoted rural electrification program from1991 (close to the abolishment of Apartheid laws at 1991), and announced they will connect
1,750,000 households to the electric grid from 1994 to 2000. Surprisingly, they completed
that goal at November 1999, one year earlier.
One more very unique approach taken by the Eskom is the famous “Prepaid
electrification” system, which ensured the Eskom the income at the same time gave South
African people the opportunity to buy electric power within their availability of payment.
*************************
Then, we can see that the reason why the Republic of South Africa has high rate of(Page 48 of 69)

energy access, they have huge power capacity at the same time conducted good policy, witha unique technical approach.

Seychelles (96%) and Cape Verde (70%)= Small and flat islands, easy to construct grid network =Seychelles and Cape Verde are both tourism-oriented countries, so modern energy
access is close to OECD member countries. Moreover, their land is 455km² and 4,033km²
with no high mountains, so it is easy to build the grid. Of course they should import diesel
oil to run diesel generators, but it is better to connect to all households, rather than to sow
seeds of discontent.

4-3Group BCountries reaching to the goal (Electricity access 50%～69%)

Western Africa

Ghana

Electrification
Rate
*1
54%

Eastern Africa

Djibouti

50%

RegionCountry

Group B countries Ghana andDjibouti are very unique, special

for

Oil
production*2
7

NaturalGas production
*3
0

GDP
/capita
*4
814

0

0

1,370

Figure 50 Countries with Electricity access
50%～69%the point of rural electrification in Africa.

Ghana (54%)= Achievement of ambitious electrification policy =Ghana is the only country in the West African region to have electricity access morethan 50%, and the reason is they are taking on the right policy for rural electrification.
President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (June – September 1979, and January 1993 –(Page 49 of 69)

January 2001, totally almost 20 years)
promoted rural electrification program allaroundthecountry,

calledNational

Electrification Scheme (NES). First, theGhana Government expands the main

Figure 51 The interview with Prof.
Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Dean, KNUSTEnergy Center, at the Tech Energy
Seminar Series in Accra(TEESSA 2010),
British Council Auditorium, Accra,
Ghana on 21 September 2010

electric grid all over the country (called“Backbone”), and then subsidize half of thefee for a village to connect to the grid. As aresult of this policy, among 4,221 villages
which has the population of more than 500,
3,400 has been connected to the grid until
2003 37. This program is still working, andwhen the author visited Ghana, one village
was under construction for connection. But
many villages of Northern Ghana and or rural area is still of grid.
One more unique policy in Ghana, is that every President candidate have to make andannounce his/her energy policy at the election campaign, and people can check whether
he/she is keeping words.

Djibouti (50%)= High energy access at the coast area =Djibouti is a small country, with land area 23,000km² and population 864,000, locatedin the Horn of Africa. (Djibouti is a new born country since it became independent from
France on 1977.) As the economy of Djibouti which enjoys GDP per capita 1,370 is heavily
dependent on their function of logistics hub, and their land is relatively small and flat, it is
not difficult to extend the electric grid. However, the development in the rural area has
been backward, and the electric grid is connected to very few tows. Therefore, most of theresidents depend on kerosene for cooking and lighting.
A study by U.S.-based Geothermal Development Associates (GDA) says Djibouti has aresource of 30 megawatt geothermal power plant, which can add almost one third of theirpresent power generation capacity of 85 megawatt 38.

Cited from the interview with Prof. Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Dean, KNUST Energy
Center, at the Tech Energy Seminar Series in Accra(TEESSA 2010), British Council
Auditorium, Accra, Ghana on 21 September 201038 Country energy information Djibouti, September 2006, Developing Renewables
37(Page 50 of 69)

4-4Group CCountries far from the goal (Electricity access 20%～49%)

Western Africa

Electrification
Oil
NaturalRate
production Gas production
*1
*2
*3
47%
59
46
Côte d’Ivoire

Western Africa

Nigeria

47%

2,211

2,565

1,689

Southern Africa

Botswana

45%

0

0

9,538

Western Africa

Senegal

42%

0

2

1,157

Southern Africa

Zimbabwe

41%

0

0

314

Eastern Africa

Comoros

40%

0

0

892

Central Africa

Gabon

37%

242

74

11,620Southern Africa

Namibia

34%

0

0

4,076

Eastern Africa

Eritrea

32%

0

0

308

Northern Africa

Sudan

31%

487

0

1,822

Central Africa

Congo (Rep)

30%

274

265

4,739

Southern Africa

Swaziland

30%

0

0

3,097

Western Africa

Mauritania

30%

17

0

1,319

Central Africa

Cameroon

29%

77

69

1,309

Central Africa

Eq. Guinea

27%

346

292

16,401

Central Africa

Angola

26%

1,948

355

6,281

Western Africa

Benin

25%

0

0

906

Western Africa

Guinea

20%

0

0

438

Western Africa

Togo

20%

0

0

470

RegionCountry

Group C countries, which have 20% to
49% access to the electric grid, lay on the

Figure 52 Countries with Electricity access
20%～49%west side of Africa(Except Sudan). Many ofthem have GDP per capita of more than
U$ 1,000, and oil rich countries such as
Angola, Eq. Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria
are include in this group. Therefore, it cangenerallysaywesternside

GDP/capita*4
1,295

Africancountries have electricity access more than
20 percent.

(Page 51 of 69)

Nigeria (47%)= Huge oil producer but suffering utility =The oil exporting giant Nigeria is wealthy as a country, but most of the people are still
very poor, whose live on less than one dollar per day.
The utility PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria, formerly named NEPA) has
been suffering from financial problem for a long time, and they have no fund to extend
their grid to rural area. Under a disadvantaged management of NEPA, Nigeria was inpower crisis for more than 30 years. No maintenance for existing facilities, and investment
for grid expansion was halted from 1987 to 2003. One major reason why the gas producer
Nigeria could not run gas fired power plants was, the contract price of natural gas fordomestic power plants was kept much lower than international market price, so the gas
producers preferred to export rather than sell to NEPA.

Gabon (37%)= Mineral rich, but low energy access =Electricity of Oil rich Gabon is still not developed, and most of primary energy isbiomass (Electricity is only 6 percent of energy usage in Gabon). In the urban area, 70 to 90
percent is electrified, but many of the rural area is not connected to the grid.

Eritrea (32%)= Energy for food security =While the electrification rate of total Eritrea is more than 30 percent, rural area is not
more than 3 percent. Therefore, the Ministry of Energy and Mines is planning to raise theelectricity access to 50% until 2015, but this policy is also intended to improve theefficiency of food production. At present, non-commercial energy share more than 70
percent, and electricity is just 4 percent of total energy consumption. And as they want tobring down the dependence to imported oil, Eritrea is now seeking to exploit theirabundant wind resources.

Cameroon (29%)= Improving grid expansion =Although an oil producing country, the amount oil production of Cameroon is less than
3 percent of neighboring oil giant Nigeria. And as the main product of Cameroon isaluminum, more than 60 percent of electric power is supplied to aluminum industry(theprice for aluminum companies have been accused of too low). And while the other main

(Page 52 of 69)

product is cacao, the rural electrification rate is 10 percent, so Government of Cameroon
established the Rural Electrification Agency(AER) to raise the access.
The AER is steadily and surely making progress. For example on June 2010, theraised fund of US$ 9.49 million for the electrification project of 33 localities in rural areasof four Regions of Cameroon (Center, North, North West and South), from the Islamic
DevelopmentBank(IsDB).

And

more

recently,

the

AfDB

approved

fundingfor Construction and Extension of High Voltage /Medium Voltage /Low Voltage networks,
and public lighting, amounting to US$ 47.70 million, on 15 September 2010 39.

4-5 Group D
Countries very far from the goal (Electricity access less than 19%)
RegionCountry

Electrification
Rate
*1

Oil
production*2

NaturalGas production*3

GDP/capita*4

Eastern Africa

Madagascar

19%

0

0

535

Eastern Africa

Zambia

19%

0

0

1,336

Western Africa

Mali

17%

0

0

688

Southern Africa Lesotho

16%

0

0

721

Eastern Africa

Ethiopia

15%

0

0

409

Eastern Africa

Kenya

15%

0

0

992

Central Africa

Congo DR

11%

16

265

236

Eastern Africa

Tanzania

11%

0

20

573

Western Africa

Guinea-Bissau

11%

0

0

273

Western Africa

Burkina Faso

10%

0

0

614

Eastern Africa

Malawi

9%

0

0

325

Eastern Africa

Uganda

9%

0

0

529

Western Africa

Niger

9%

0

0

409

Western Africa

Gambia

8%

0

0

504

Central Africa

Central African Rep.

5%

0

0

512

Eastern Africa

Rwanda

5%

0

0

469

Western Africa

Sierra Leone

5%

0

0

374

Central Africa

Chad

3%

115

0

1,017

Eastern Africa

Burundi

3%

0

0

176

Western Africa

Liberia

3%

0

0

271

39

Devex (24 November 2010 and 24 November 2010)(Page 53 of 69)

Figure 45 shows that the Eastern andinland Africa have very low access to

Figure 53 Countries with electricity accessless than 19%

electricity.
Most of these countries neither produce
large amount of oil nor natural gas, so they
have no income from resources, and they haveto import fuels to run thermal power plants.
However, as it is very costly to transport oilor natural gas to inland Africa, many of theirpower generation depends on hydro.

Ethiopia (15%)= Recent effort for rural electrification =The economy of oldest independent country Ethiopia depends on traditional
agriculture, and most of the power capacity of utility Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation(EEPCo), which was privatized in 1997, is hydro. Their plan to build 300 megawatt Tekeze
Hydro Power Plant which will add one third of total capacity 900 megawatt, has been
delaying.
On March 2008, EEPCo announced they will raise the access to electricity in Ethiopia,
to 100 percent in 10 years period, that is, until 2018 40. First EEPCo will invest fourbillion Birr (U$ 242 million) for the construction of six power generation stations, which
will increase 3,000 megawatt (more than three times of their present capacity of 900
megawatt.) Additionally, they have already started the construction of 30 high powertransmission and distribution projects, along with 2,000 kilometers of high voltage (132kV)
and extra high voltage (230kV) transmission lines.
Besides, they have already begun the construction of international transmission lines
to Sudan, Djibouti, and will soon begin the interconnection between Kenya. Thus, when
the new power stations and transmission lines are completed, Ethiopia would be sure thekey country for the East Africa Power Pool (EAPP).

March 19, 2008, nazret.com “Ethiopia - EEPCo set to push access to electricity to 100
percent in 10 years”

40(Page 54 of 69)

Uganda (9%)= Good Solar Policy =The Uganda Government established Rural
Electrification Agency (REA) on 2003, at the same

Figure 54
the interview withAmbassador Biriggwa held at the
Ugandan Embassy to Japan, on
14th October 2008

time started Rural Electrification Fund (REF) to
promote the energy access. With the support of theWorld Bank and Japan (JICA), some micro hydropower plants have been installed.
With regard to renewable energy, the Ugandan
Government is subsidizing half of the solar systemprice, and remit duty for solar companies 41. They
also designated by law to mix biofuel into gasoline
or diesel, while the amount of biofuel is expected to
be far less. And also they intended to construct biogas plants throughout the country, notmuch progress have been made thus far.

4-6

International grid connection
While Northern African countries have energy access close to 100 percent 42, otherregions need to help each other to secure the power supply and communication /information sharing, and therefore, some international power networks have started atWestern and Southern Africa. This is somewhat bright news for some Bottom Africans,because international gird requires newly built transmission lines which connect major
cities and power stations, via small ruralvillages. (However, very few distribution

Figure 55 WAPP connection map

lines comes down to households)<WAPP>The West African Power Pool (WAPP)
was set up on the July 2006 to address
the issue of power supply deficiency
within West Africa. In their context,“West

Africa”

means

the

membercountries of Economic Community of
Cited from the interview with Ambassador Biriggwa held at the Ugandan Embassy toJapan, on 14th October 2008
42 "Tunisia: Country Tops Electrification Rate in Africa", 1 February 2010, allAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002020459.html
41(Page 55 of 69)

West African States (ECOWAS) except Cabo Verde, which means Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. 43
The

WAPP

dividesFigure 56 Power generation capacity of SAPP
countries

these

countries in two groups. In Group A,
most

of

the

countries

areinterconnected. As Group B countries
are in relatively bad financial status
than Group A, the development of
power

industryiswellbehind.

Therefore, Group B countries arepresently under institutional reformforregulation,

electrification,
introductionofutility,rural

privatization,

and

IPPs

(independent

power producers) or private capital.
<SAPP>The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) was established on August 1995, and thepresent member countries are Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia,
Congo
Figure 57 SAPP connection map

DRC,

Swaziland,ZambiaandZimbabwe. Additionally they have three
non-operating members, which are Malawi,
Angola and Tanzania 44.
Among 12 member countries, South Africa
in other words Eskom, represents 79 percent of
total capacity of SAPP, but when look at the
AVAILABLE capacity, Eskom shares 89 percent.
Therefore, it is very inferable that Eskom is she
main power supplier of Southern African
region.
For example the Namibia state owned
Nampower which has been suffering from thesoaring prices of coal and diesel, stopped
running their formerly main power stations
Van Eck

power plant (coal, 120 megawatt)

and Paratus (diesel, 24 megawatt) after they
43
44

WAPP website http://www.ecowapp.org/about_us.html
SAPP Annual Report 2009

(Page 56 of 69)

could import cheap electricity from Eskom via the SSAPP (Van Eck and Paratus arepresently taken as emergency generators).
And in Botswana, the state owned utility Botswana Power Corporation began
importing from Eskom, Hidroelectrica De Cahora Bassa Sa (HCB) and EDM Electricidade de Moçambique (both Mozambique) for 80 percent of electricity demand.
(Now Botswana is rushing to improve their independency of power generation, andplanning to construct 600 megawatt coal fired power plant.)<WESTCOR>
The Western Power Corridor (WESTCOR)
is a joint project by the electric power utilities oCongo DRC, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, to first develop the huge hydroresources in Congo DRC, and to second deliver to the member countries by HVDC
transmission line 45.
Figure 58 WESTCOR connection map

Table
9
WESTCOR
Development Schedule

Project

MW

StatusInga Ⅰ351 in operation

Inga Ⅱ

1,424 in operation

Inga Ⅲ

4,500 PlanningGrand Inga

39,000 PlanningTotal

45,275(Source: WESTCOR POWER
INTER-CONNECT SOUTHERNAFRICAN POWER POOL, Westcor)
Inga One (351 megawatt) and Inga Two (1,424 megawatt) are already in operation, but
the Inga site is expected to supply more than 45,000 megawatt of clean electric power at
the final stage, which quite excesses the present consumption of Congo DRC (2,500
megawatt).
== Finance Scheme and technical function ==45

Westcor Power inter-Connect Southern African Power Pool
http://www.africacncl.org/downloads/WESTCOR_POWER_INTER-CONNECT.pdf(Page 57 of 69)

All members of Westcor except Angola are also SAPP members, which shares equally
20 percent of the total project cost (U$ 1,044 million), amounts U$ 5,218 million. The power
stations costs U$ 3,744 (72 percent), HVDC converters U$ 822 (16 percent), and HVDC
lines U$ 652 (12 percent). The capital will be raised by project finance from World Bank,
African Development Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Southern African Development Bank.

Table 10 SAPP and WESTCOR member countries
SAPP

WestcorUtility－(not linked)

AngolaBotswana

Botswana

Mozambique

－

South
AfricaSouth
AfricaInvestment forWestcorTask for Westcor

ENE

20%

Investigate the thermal and gas Technologies.

BPC

20%

Investigate telecommunications proposal.

－
Eskom

20%

Investigate transmission line technologies; EIA
planning; energy intensive user proposal and“MOTRACO” company JV Structure.

Lesotho－－Namibia

Namibia

Nam
Power

20%

Investigate the HVDC Technologies; theplanning for the EIA; MOU between
governments and regulatory Impact.

DRC

DRC

SNEL

20%

Planning for INGA III and Investigate of hydrotechnologies

Swaziland－－Zambia－－Zimbabwe－－(Source: WESTCOR POWER INTER-CONNECT SOUTHERN AFRICAN POWER POOL,
Westcor/SAPP Annual Report 2009)

Presently the electricity flow of southern Africa is very much stabilized, generated inSouth Africa (by coal 93 percent, nuclear 5 percent and hydro only 1 percent) ,and
distributed to the neighboring nations. In other words southern African countries all rely
heavily on coal power, so when the price of coal soars up, many consumers cannot afford touse electricity. Moreover, South African Eskom has been in management difficulties forlong years, and neither able to build new power plants nor keep the budget for
maintenance their power plants and transmission facilities.
The total power generation capacity of South Africa is 46,570 megawatt, and among
them, 42,999 megawatt 92 percent) is currently available 46. Therefore, if Inga III hydro46

SAPP Annual Report 2009

(Page 58 of 69)

power station is opened, roughly ten percent of new power capacity which will not beaffected by market price, can supply electricity to SAPP countries (of course includingSouth Africa).
== Transmission Route ==The generated power from Inga Hydro Power Plant first goes to the substations ofInga III (Congo DRC), Kinshasa (Congo DRC) and Cuanza (Angola), by 400kV HVAC.
Another 220kV transmission line to Congo Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) which is
now not functioning, is also planned. After the 400kV AC was converted into 500kV DC,
the power will be sent to the shareholding utilities. Finally the transmission line of thisproject would reach more than 3,000 kilometers.
Figure 59 EAPP connection map<EAPP>The MOU for the Eastern Africa Power
Pool (EAPP) was signed on February 24 2005,
by seven African countries (Congo DRC, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan).
Tanzania, Djibouti and Uganda Joined the
EAPP later 47.
The sponsors for EAPP are ECA, AU,
UPDEA, COMESA and USAID. The masterplan and grid code study was funded by theAfrican Union, and technical assistance andcapacity building will be funded by the EU.
Finally, technical Assistance will also be
provided by the Norwegian Government, which
has been supporting African countries for along time. The EAPP has already secured Euro 2.7 million ($4 million) from the EU. And
the fund will also be used in the preparation of the Eastern Africa Power Market
Development Plan.
By far, the training and the development of an information system is expected to becompleted by end of 2010, and the member countries launched interconnection of national
electricity grids of the Nile Equatorial Lakes countries in Uganda on September 8, 2009.
Presently the EAPP is expected to start by the beginning of 2011

Cited from the briefing paper of Mr. Safaa Hamed, Chief Engineer, Egyptian Electricity
Holding Company at Energy Efficiency Workshop held on March, 2010 at Washington.

47(Page 59 of 69)

Why non-East African countries, that is
to say Egypt and Sudan are listed up in the

Table 11 Power generation capacity of
EAPP countries

EASTERN Africa Power Pool? The reason is
because the East African countries do nothave South Africa, and they need one BIG
GENERATOR. Table 7 shows that the power
generation capacity of Egypt alone shares 75
percent of EAPP countries, and in turn, thetotal of seven East African countries, theleading characters, represent only 13 percent.
In their MOU, the EAPP says that the
expected power exchange would be;
1. Export Countries: Uganda. Ethiopia,
Rwanda and DRC
2. Djibouti , Kenya, Burundi, Sudan and Tanzania are assumed to import
3. Most countries would benefit from reserve sharing
4. With regard to Egypt, it will have 60 % of total EAPP generation. Moreover, Egypt
will not be a net importer or exporter of electricity or natural gas.
**********************
We could see that West, East and South African countries / electric utilities are now
investing into international grid. Of course only the large cities would be connected,
however as every rural electrification starts from a transmission line, the international
grid connection must be appreciated. Equally important, the EAPP says one of theirobjectives is rural electrification.

(Page 60 of 69)

4-7 Good Practices
Prepaid System (South Africa , Tanzania, Zambia)
For African electric power utilities,
one greatest challenge is how to collectFigure 60 Prepaid electricity charging by
mobile phone

the bill. The utilities don’t have enoughresources to check the meters, or eveninstall meters, and the consumers
cannot afford the payment of power
they used. Therefore, the Eskom ofSouth Africa started to install pre-paid
power system to their customers fromlate 1980s. First, the spec of prepaid
cards differed by suppliers, so great
confusion embarrassed both Eskom andthe consumers, but after the unificationof standards, the system have been
operating well.
Tanzania also introduced prepaid card system from late 2006. Their system named“LUKU” meter, to raise the collection ratio, reduce the meter checking expense, reduce thestoppage cost for the non-paying households. Presently more than 60 percent of theircustomers in Dar es Salaam, and recently they started recharging by mobile phone.
In Zambia, the state owned utility ZESCO started the prepaid system for homecustomers since 2007, instead of fixed charge billing system.

Investment in Maintenance (Burkina Fas, Malawi, Zambia)
Proper maintenance is very important for power industry. Many utilities cannot afford
to invest in maintenance, so many power plants / substations / transmission lines, evenconstructed by grants or international loans, are not well functioning.
In this context, some countries can be listed up for good practice. Fist the available
capacity of generators in Burkina Faso is more than 70 percent, much better than average
African countries. The access rate of rural area has been rising from 5 to 10 percent
annually. Second, Malawi established three companies for operation and maintenance (foreach regions of North, Central and South).
In Zambia, the ZESCO started maintenance project under the support of World Bank,(Page 61 of 69)

and now reforming their more-than-40-years-old power stations.

4-8 Unfortunate Experiences
Tanzania= Too much expenditure for rural electrification =More than 90 percent of the energy consumption of Tanzania is non-commercial, andelectricity share only 1.2 percent of total energy. Tanzania imports 100 percent of oil, andproduces very low amount of coal (0.3 percent of total energy consumption), hydro electric(0.6 percent) and natural gas (1.6 percent).
Table 12The state owned electric power utility Tanzania
Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) began
the project to supply electricity access to rural
Tanzania,

after

two

privatepower

Table 13companies

TANESCO (Tanganyika Electric Supply Company)
and DARESCO (Dar es Salaam Electric Supply
Company) were socialized in 1964.
TANESCO raised finance for rural electrification
fromforeignbanking

organsor

grants,but unprofitable rural projects became to press the
management.

And

as

TANESCOwas

already

state-owned, the deficit was covered by huge amountof subsidy 48. After the consultation of the World Bank,TANESCO was planned to be privatized under“PLRPS / Programs for Liberalization and Reform on
Power Sector”, but due to the severe drought andfrequent blackouts, the reform was halted on 2006.

48"The Electric Power Industry of Overseas Countries Vol. 2", JEPIC, Mar, 2010

(Page 62 of 69)

As a result of spinning off money-losing rural electrification project, the financial
condition TANESCO was much improved
As well, the available power capacity of TANESCO has been greatly improved, so
generally more than 85 percent of the output of thermal power plants, and close to 100
percent of large hydro power plants is available to generate electricity (the availability ofsmall and medium sized hydro plants is close to 50 percent). On the other hand, frequent
problems of substations have been reported, so even more amount of budget for
maintenance is required.
The electricity access rate to the rural area of Tanzania has not been upgraded, first
because only 60 percent of the electricity bill is paid, and second the TANESO has topay high rate to IPPs.
TANESO seems to set the price level too low, so that they could not manage theircompany. For other sample, Burkina Faso kept their price high, so they havebeen successful for rural electrification.

4-9 Summing-up
In this chapter, we analyzed the electricity access of African countries by four groups,
then overviewed about three international gird connection projects, and finally picked up
good / bad practices.
<Group A>
Among the sub Saharan countries, only the Republic of South Africa excesses the energy
access of 75 percent. The reason is not just because South Africa has abundant coal or
nuclear power plant, but also they conducted rural electrification, and moreover, they
adopted groundbreaking bill collecting system of prepaid card.
<Group B>
The countries in next group are isolated examples. Ghana had an aspiring leader who
forced through rural electrification, and still running to raise the energy access. The
presidential candidates discuss about their own energy policy, and people closely check
whether they are keeping words.
Djibouti, a relatively small and flat country at a geographically strategic location, isbased on their function of trading hub. It is not so difficult to extend the grid.
<Group C>
The countries with electricity access of 20%～49% is roughly on the Atlantic coast. A(Page 63 of 69)

number of them produce oil or natural gas, and more than half countries records GDP capita
of more than U$ 3,000. In spite of their wealthy public finance, as many countries focused on
industrial output, rural energy policy has been lower priority task. As a result, he gap
between urban and rural areas widens much larger than Group D countries.
<Group D>
Group D, the most energy-poor countries, are in a single phrase, inland or Indian Ocean
coast countries. Presently they produce very little oil or gas, and most of their GDP per
capita is less than U$ 500. The governments and utilities suffer from chronic budget
shortage, so they have no fund for power plant / substation construction, maintenance, grid
expansion and bill collecting.
However, some countries are attempting to raise the rural electrification access. Uganda
set a policy to subsidize half of solar price, and Ethiopia is making effort to see 100 percent
until 2018.
<International grid connection projects >Presently, we could find four ongoing international grid connection projects in Sub
Saharan Africa, West African Power Pool (WAPP), Southern African Power Pool (SAPP),
Western Power Corridor (WESTCOR) and Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP). They can not
only secure the electricity supply, but also they may lead to grid extension, in the long run.
< Good and bad practices >Despite their humanistic policy to supply electricity to poor people, Tanzania
over-subsidized the cost, and at the end of the day bankrupted. Therefore, rural
electrification policy should carefully design the structure to keep it sustainable.
On the other hand, African countries can bring in prepaid card system to ensure their billcollecting, reduce staff cost. Not only the Republic of South Africa but also Tanzania andZambia are using this breakthrough technology.
Equally important, utilities which invest in maintenance are showing high performanceof availability factor. If this is not the case, power facilities can only bring out less than haldof their full function.
============================================All in all, these studies clearly show that mineral rich nations have relatively higher
access to electricity, but as most of them lack energy policy for rural electrification, thevillages do not benefit from grid electricity. The inland or East countries are suffering fromlower electrification rates, but good policy might make improvements.

(Page 64 of 69)

5.

Conclusion(Page 65 of 69)

5-1 The conclusion of energy production and consumption in Africa
Presently, Northern African countries and the Republic of South Africa
are producing and consuming most of the energy (oil, gas, coal and electricity) in
Africa.
For power generation, the main source for Northern African countries and oil richcountries is fossil fuel. By contrast, developing countries mostly depend on hydroor diesel
International fuel transportation for power generation is not popular in Africa.
On the other hand, international transmission of electricity is expanding.

5-2 The conclusion of sustainable offgrid energy technology
African bottom billions are not satisfied with just a small solar, what they need
is

GRID

ELECTRICITY,

or

if

not,

SUSTAINABLE,RELIABLE

and

AFFORDABLE off-grid electricity.
The author found proven cases of renewable energy business models in Africa, but
the problem of capital funding lingers on. Many successful cases are subsidized
or granted.
Solar energy is proved to give great impact for bottom billions, but it not affordable,
and can only be of assistance for light electrical equipment.
Wind energy is most abundant at Northern and Southern Africa, where energy
access is already high. And as the feasibility study requires long time and highexpense, it is difficult to find really cost effective sites for wind power in Sub
Saharan Africa.
Biogas, Multifunctional Platform, and micro hydro can supply reliable andsustainable electricity.
The features of rural energy can be summarized as follows;
Table 14 Analysis of features with offgrird energy technologies for Africa

Technology

Affordability

Relia
bilitySite

To makesustainable

Plant cost

Fuel cost

Solar

×

△ or × (Expensive)◎（Free）◎ (Anywhere)

Power storage

Wind

×

△ or× (Expensive)◎（Free）

× (Few)

technology

Biogas◎× (Expensive)◎（Free）〇 (Many)

PolicyMFP◎〇Affordable× (Expensive)◎ (Anywhere)

PolicyMicro Hydro◎

×× (Very Expensive)◎（Free）

×× (Very few)

Policy(Page 66 of 69)

We can find in table 14 that reliable and renewable energy sources (biogas and microhydro power plant) are not affordable, so they need support of policy. MFP is affordable(while not granted), but requires approval from local governments and the UNDP, and they
have to pay for expensive diesel.
Solar and wind are too volatile, so they need battery (Solar and wind is too unstable, sothey are better to be just added on grid). However, the present power storage technology is
not only so efficient, but also requires replacement for every few years. We should be awarethat solar and wind are not even popular in most prosperous countries, so they promote
feed in tariff (FIT) policies. In short, the day when sustainable solar or wind system comes
affordable to the African bottom billion, might come only more than 10 years after the pricebecomes well moderate for people in developed countries.
The battery technology still relies on the voltaic pile, which was developed on year
1800, more than 200 years ago. Therefore, we should not wait for a breakthroughtechnology, but it is better to design good energy policy.
A good policy, or business / financial scheme might deliver small solar or small windplants in the village or houses in some day. The day when a small solar or wind power
comes is a really great moment, but it is not the goal. The power is so weak, and although
no fuel cost is needed, they still have to pay for battery, to make it sustainable.

5-3 The conclusion of grouping
North Africa has almost 100 percent access to electricity.
South Africa and Ghana completed good rural electrification policy, so they havehigh access in the rural area.
Western African countries have generally more than 20 percent of access, but mostof rural area is still not connected.
Eastern and inland Africa has very low access to electricity. They need good policies,and enough fund to improve.
Table 15 Electrification of African regions in summary

Country GroupElectrification
Oil
Rateproduction

Natural Gas
production

GDP/capita

Average of Group A

80%

64

38

6,321

Average of Group B

52%

4

0

1,092

Average of Group C

33%

298

193

3,562

Average of Group D

10%

7

14

548

Here we can say that THERE IS A CLEAR TENDENCY FOR RURAL(Page 67 of 69)

ELECTRIFICATION IN AFRICA, North and south is good, West comes next. East andCentral Africa has generally low access to electricity. Ghana and Djibouti are exceptions,because of ambitious energy policy (Ghana) and strategic location (Djibouti).
Figure 61Th

5-4 The future of African Energy prospected by IEA
TheEnergyInternational
AgencyFigure 62 The number of people without access to electricity(IEA)

projected that in Africa,
more

than

regions

any

still

other

have

no

access to energy in 2030 49.
It should be remarked
that

the

lifestyleof

African people who cookbybiomass

and

fetch

water from far sources far
away, are very similar totheir ancestors who lived
there some hundred ago, except that the 21st century Africans communicate with mobile
phones, and they carry water by plastic tanks or buckets. Therefore, the scenario thatthe lifestyle of African bottom billion remains unchanged for another 30 years, is VERY
LIKELY. Can we agree for it? And how can it be improved?
“World Energy Outlook 2009” International Energy Agency
http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2009/WEO2009_es_japanese.pdf

49(Page 68 of 69)

5-5 The conclusion of this Thesis
The IEA says most of the African remain the same at 2030. However, we can find one
answer on mobile phones. Who in the world projected the day so many poor Africans use
mobile phones? Now we can say it is even one of the infrastructures in Africa. For example,
as we found in the case of prepaid charging system in Tanzania, rural electrification
combined with mobile phone may work.
With regard to the capital funding, we can find great chances in micro financeor leasing. And one promising trend in Africa is the energy business entrepreneursof university students 50. Students have the knowledge of technology can learn businessmethods at the university, or exchange experiences. Policy should support them.
Finally, we have some hope when we look at the recent economic growth in Africa.
The high-growing economies are most equal to the energy poor countries, so when thesecountries

conduct

well-suitedenergypolicy

so

that

they

can

extendthegrid, subsidize biogas, MFP or micro hydro plants, replacement of solar batteries, or
support small energy businesses, the future projected by the IMF can be changed.

Figure 63 GDP
African countries

growthofFigure 53 Countries with electricity
access less than 19%

Here, it is feasible to conclude that aspiring energy policy can do deliver sustainableenergy to African bottom billions, as we saw in the cases of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda
and Ethiopia. Equally important, however mineral resources can be produced, rural people
have to live without sustainable energy, as we found on West African countries.
Renewable Energy for Rural Areas in Africa, Apr, 2008, Abeeku Brew-Hammond andFrancis Kemasuor

50(Page 69 of 69)