Africa's potential to leapfrog ahead... with renewables

The access to energy is one of the cornerstones for social and economic development and poverty alleviation.

In the rural areas of some African countries, the share of people with access to modern energy services is as low as 1 percent. In order to reach these rural poor, sustainable concepts for energy services will have to be developed.

By now, many renewable energy technologies have reached competitive levels with conventional energy sources; they provide social stability through local empowerment and public participation, and protect the environment.

Renewable energies can contribute to a large number of political objectives, such as poverty eradication, a sustainable use of resources, the protection of human health and the ecosystem. This is particularly true for small to medium scale renewable energy systems that provide affordable energy to livelihoods currently defined by energy poverty, and help in creating employment by powering enterprises for rural and urban populations. The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies across Africa also has the potential of giving a boost to the achievement of all eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), almost two thirds of the African population of one billion people have no access to electricity. Only 4 percent of the worldwide produced electricity is generated on the continent. [more Global Trader]