ISSUE 56
A far from bright future
More people in Africa live without electricity than anywhere else and there is little hope things will change soon When it comes to access to energy, Africa’s figures are noticeably unimpressive....
The struggle to keep pace
Africa's collective electricity supply is bedevilled by weak legal frameworks and regional rivalry An estimated 580 million Africans lack access to electricity, three quarters of the global total....
A far from bright future
More people in Africa live without electricity than anywhere else and there is little hope things will change soon When it comes to access to energy, Africa’s figures are noticeably unimpressive. Nearly 75% of the...
The struggle to keep pace
Africa's collective electricity supply is bedevilled by weak legal frameworks and regional rivalry An estimated 580 million Africans lack access to electricity, three quarters of the global total. The International...
A far from bright future
More people in Africa live without electricity than anywhere else and there is little hope things will change soon When it comes to access to energy, Africa’s figures are noticeably unimpressive....
The struggle to keep pace
Africa's collective electricity supply is bedevilled by weak legal frameworks and regional rivalry An estimated 580 million Africans lack access to electricity, three quarters of the global total....
Shaky ground for PPPs in Africa’s energy sector
Africa’s involvement in PPPs has been limited by an inability to guarantee investor funds, and gaps in capacity Africa is home to about 1.3 billion...
Profit and power
Despite the benefits, gambling on a Russian-led nuclear future for Africa will end up the equivalent of a game of Russian roulette
A heavy price to pay
Being forced to use generators to supplement erratic power supplies is a heavy burden for African business.
Rocky ride for Nigeria’s power sector
Nigeria’s power supply is bedevilled by infrastructural decay, corruption, inefficiency and a lack of capacity.
A powerhouse for regional integration
The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile might just offer hidden opportunities
The high cost of slaving over a hot stove
Africa’s rural poor are particularly reliant on biomass for cooking and heating, exposing them to high levels of pollutants.
China’s billion dollar dirty coal projects
China is investing heavily in coal-fi red plants in Africa, even as it prioritises renewables at home
Wind and solar change the game
As the third phase of DRC’s Inga 3 hydropower project falters, questions have been raised about the financial risk to both host and its main client, South Africa
Power for the people
The solution to Africa’s energy defiicit requires a multi-layered approach
Shaky ground for PPPs in Africa’s energy sector
Africa’s involvement in PPPs has been limited by an inability to guarantee investor funds, and gaps in capacity Africa is home to about 1.3 billion...
Profit and power
Despite the benefits, gambling on a Russian-led nuclear future for Africa will end up the equivalent of a game of Russian roulette
A heavy price to pay
Being forced to use generators to supplement erratic power supplies is a heavy burden for African business.
Rocky ride for Nigeria’s power sector
Nigeria’s power supply is bedevilled by infrastructural decay, corruption, inefficiency and a lack of capacity.
A powerhouse for regional integration
The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile might just offer hidden opportunities
The high cost of slaving over a hot stove
Africa’s rural poor are particularly reliant on biomass for cooking and heating, exposing them to high levels of pollutants.
China’s billion dollar dirty coal projects
China is investing heavily in coal-fi red plants in Africa, even as it prioritises renewables at home
Wind and solar change the game
As the third phase of DRC’s Inga 3 hydropower project falters, questions have been raised about the financial risk to both host and its main client, South Africa
Power for the people
Africa’s energy deficit requires a multi-layered approach Africa faces a gigantic energy challenge. Latest estimates are that on the continent 600 million people, virtually all residing in sub-Saharan Africa and amounting to more than half the population, still don’t...
A very expensive white elephant
The Stiegler’s Gorge project is a 48-year-old folly that will not deliver the energy security that President John Magufuli seems convinced it will Every aspirant dictator seems to want at least one Soviet-style mega-project to their name. It is...
A lesson in democratising energy
Togo’s government wants rural communities to produce their own, affordable electricity Africa is suffering from a major shortage of power despite having huge potential. According to the World Bank, the electricity access rate in West Africa...
A bright future for agro waste
Innovative social enterprises are recycling biowaste into affordable carbon-neutral biomass fuels in Kenya Amid a monotonous din, Elizabeth Nyamai feeds cubes of peeled and washed tubers into an electric grater. Not even the noise from the grater...
Harnessing the elements to power and light Malawi
Lessons from the schoolboy who harnessed the wind In his bestselling memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (2009), William Kamkwamba laid bare the challenges faced by millions of Malawians living...
Solar in a suitcase
Mini-grids and solar systems are a lifeline for Africa’s underserviced rural health clinics Laura Stachel first realised that lack of electricity impaired the delivery of life-saving care when she conducted research in a state hospital in Nigeria...
A very expensive white elephant
The Stiegler’s Gorge project is a 48-year-old folly that will not deliver the energy security that President John Magufuli seems convinced it will...
A lesson in democratising energy
Togo’s government wants rural communities to produce their own, affordable electricity Africa is suffering from a major shortage of power...
A bright future for agro waste
Innovative social enterprises are recycling biowaste into affordable carbon-neutral biomass fuels in Kenya Amid a monotonous din, Elizabeth Nyamai...
Harnessing the elements to power and light Malawi
Lessons from the schoolboy who harnessed the wind In his bestselling memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity...
Solar in a suitcase
Mini-grids and solar systems are a lifeline for Africa’s underserviced rural health clinics Laura Stachel first realised that lack of electricity...
A very expensive white elephant
The Stiegler’s Gorge project is a 48-year-old folly that will not deliver the energy security that President John Magufuli seems convinced it will Every aspirant dictator seems to want at least one Soviet-style mega-project to their name. It is almost as if the construction of a white elephant will validate the personality cult that they invariably build for themselves. The Stiegler’s Gorge hydropower project in Tanzania is...
A lesson in democratising energy
Togo’s government wants rural communities to produce their own, affordable electricity Africa is suffering from a major shortage of power despite having huge potential. According to the World Bank, the electricity access rate in West Africa in 2018 was 52%, with power cuts of up to 80 hours per month. The United Nations has reported that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Togo is a member, has some...
A bright future for agro waste
Innovative social enterprises are recycling biowaste into affordable carbon-neutral biomass fuels in Kenya Amid a monotonous din, Elizabeth Nyamai feeds cubes of peeled and washed tubers into an electric grater. Not even the noise from the grater dampens her determination to process the starch slurry that is dried and sold to food processing companies and other users. Nyamai is the director of Veliz Foods, a food processing enterprise...
Harnessing the elements to power and light Malawi
Lessons from the schoolboy who harnessed the wind In his bestselling memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (2009), William Kamkwamba laid bare the challenges faced by millions of Malawians living in rural areas without access to electricity. Kamkwamba’s epic memoir, in which he recounts how, forced to drop out of school at 14 because famine had ruined his family’s harvest leaving...
Solar in a suitcase
Mini-grids and solar systems are a lifeline for Africa’s underserviced rural health clinics Laura Stachel first realised that lack of electricity impaired the delivery of life-saving care when she conducted research in a state hospital in Nigeria in 2008. As an obstetrician, she watched helplessly as her colleagues struggled to deliver babies in near darkness, administer intravenous medication by candlelight and conduct surgeries by...
BOOK REVIEWS
Book review
The Political Economy of Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa Edited by Andrew Emmanuel Okem and Lucky E Asuelime. Routledge, London and New York; 2018 In pre-industrial society, one used wood and fire for heat and light, gathering wood from the environment on a more or less sustainable basis. But industrialisation has made energy an issue of state, and if states fail to procure and provide energy to vast populations, poverty, disease and death await. Access to electricity, in the 21st century, is about as important as access to food, shelter, health and employment, and plays a significant role in securing access to these basic conditions of life itself. Access is a critical factor in improving life chances, in escaping poverty, and a hundred years after electricity came into general...
The Zimbabwean nightmare and tragic optimism of Mutambara
To mention Zimbabwe and the idea of a “dream” in the same sentence, as Professor Arthur Mutambara has done, is to be provocative and challenging. The provocation and the challenge come from the troubling Zimbabwean economic and political condition that can only be...
Book review – Ethics and Accountable Governance in Africa’s Public Sector, Volume One
Ethics and Accountable Governance in Africa’s Public Sector, Volume One: Ethical Compliance and Institutional Performance. Edited by Kemi Ogunyemi, Isaiah Adisa, Robert E. Hinson, published by Palgrave Macmillan Ethics & Accountable Governance in Africa’s Public...
Book review – An action page-turner with academic precision
Hitmen for hire: Exposing South Africa’s underworld, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2017 In September 2022 the Global Initiative (GI) Against Transnational Organized Crime released a strategic assessment of the existential threat to South Africa that is organised crime....
Making today’s African girl into tomorrow’s African leader – Book review
African Girl, African Woman – How agile, empowered and tech-savvy females will transform the continent for good by Hynd Bouhia; published by Rawan Publishing (2021) African Girl – African Woman explores the important role of women in science and technology in...
Shaping Africa’s Post-Covid Recovery
Book Review Shaping Africa's Post-Covid Recovery Edited by Rabah Arezki, Simeon Djankov and Ugo Panizza Published by Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2021 With most of the world still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, different regions face unique...
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