ELECTRIFICATION was the greatest achievement of the 20th century‚ according to the US Academy of Engineering.
For people in North America and Europe‚ the availability of power at the flick of a switch has become so commonplace it is no longer remarkable.
But for 1.2 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia‚ electricity was still a dream in 2011.
More than 300 million people in India were without access to electricity‚ which the International Energy Agency defines as consuming at least 250 kilowatt-hours per year for a rural household and 500 kilowatt-hours for an urban one.
Nigeria‚ Indonesia‚ Ethiopia‚ Democratic Republic of Congo‚ Bangladesh and Pakistan each had more than 50 million people without power. Another 43 nations‚ virtually all in sub-Saharan Africa‚ had at least
1 million people with no electricity.
But the big obstacle to electrification in Africa is not constructing power stations and building overhead power lines. It is working out how to help the region’s households – many with limited and irregular cash flows‚ little collateral and no access to credit – to pay for the huge investment needed to bring electricity to them.
In March‚ an official from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “Over a year‚ a refrigerator uses six times more electricity than a Tanzanian citizen‚ and it would take an Ethiopian citizen two years to consume the amount of electricity that an American does in three days.
“Sub-Saharan Africa generates 28 gigawatts of power for more than 900 million people – about the same as Argentina generates for 42 million people. And on any given day‚ a quarter of that energy is unavailable due to inefficient outdated infrastructure.”
Africa is rich in energy. There are huge untapped resources of gas‚ oil‚ coal‚ geothermal‚ solar and wind power that could easily meet the region’s requirements.
The usual problems of war‚ corruption‚ lack of investment‚ poverty and the immense distances involved in bringing power to remote rural communities have all contributed to the failure of electrification.
More than half of urban dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity‚ but the comparable figure for rural communities is under 20%.
On the eve of the Great Depression‚ 44% of the US population was still rural – 50-million people – almost none had electricity. The federal government played a decisive role in the ’30s in spreading power outside the cities through New Deal agencies.
Governments and international donors will have to play a similar role in Africa. The biggest problem‚ however‚ is getting people to pay for power.
The returns on rural electrification have been low and the risks high.
The Obama administration is trying to promote a more coordinated approach while boosting exports for US construction firms and equipment manufacturers. The Power Africa Initiative‚ launched last summer‚ aims to install 10000MW of new generation capacity‚ connect 20 million new customers‚ and improve electric reliability across the continent.
Six countries (Ethiopia‚ Kenya‚ Tanzania‚ Ghana‚ Liberia and Nigeria) have been selected to participate in the first phase. — Reuters
Electrification in Africa still a dream for 1.2bn
For people in North America and Europe‚ the availability of power at the flick of a switch has become so commonplace it is no longer remarkable.
But for 1.2 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia‚ electricity was still a dream in 2011.
More than 300 million people in India were without access to electricity‚ which the International Energy Agency defines as consuming at least 250 kilowatt-hours per year for a rural household and 500 kilowatt-hours for an urban one.
Nigeria‚ Indonesia‚ Ethiopia‚ Democratic Republic of Congo‚ Bangladesh and Pakistan each had more than 50 million people without power. Another 43 nations‚ virtually all in sub-Saharan Africa‚ had at least
1 million people with no electricity.
But the big obstacle to electrification in Africa is not constructing power stations and building overhead power lines. It is working out how to help the region’s households – many with limited and irregular cash flows‚ little collateral and no access to credit – to pay for the huge investment needed to bring electricity to them.
In March‚ an official from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “Over a year‚ a refrigerator uses six times more electricity than a Tanzanian citizen‚ and it would take an Ethiopian citizen two years to consume the amount of electricity that an American does in three days.
“Sub-Saharan Africa generates 28 gigawatts of power for more than 900 million people – about the same as Argentina generates for 42 million people. And on any given day‚ a quarter of that energy is unavailable due to inefficient outdated infrastructure.”
Africa is rich in energy. There are huge untapped resources of gas‚ oil‚ coal‚ geothermal‚ solar and wind power that could easily meet the region’s requirements.
The usual problems of war‚ corruption‚ lack of investment‚ poverty and the immense distances involved in bringing power to remote rural communities have all contributed to the failure of electrification.
More than half of urban dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity‚ but the comparable figure for rural communities is under 20%.
On the eve of the Great Depression‚ 44% of the US population was still rural – 50-million people – almost none had electricity. The federal government played a decisive role in the ’30s in spreading power outside the cities through New Deal agencies.
Governments and international donors will have to play a similar role in Africa. The biggest problem‚ however‚ is getting people to pay for power.
The returns on rural electrification have been low and the risks high.
The Obama administration is trying to promote a more coordinated approach while boosting exports for US construction firms and equipment manufacturers. The Power Africa Initiative‚ launched last summer‚ aims to install 10000MW of new generation capacity‚ connect 20 million new customers‚ and improve electric reliability across the continent.
Six countries (Ethiopia‚ Kenya‚ Tanzania‚ Ghana‚ Liberia and Nigeria) have been selected to participate in the first phase. — Reuters
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