Power shortage in Africa

A plea for electrification

Major areas in Africa are in the dark: 75% of Africans don't have access to power, i.e. 600 million people. In 2025, the figure may reach one billion. This is the technological shortage that Roger Nkodo Dang, President of the Panafrican Parliament, has stressed before the French National Assembly on November 3^rd. He launched a solemn call for "a right to light and power for Africans", which generated a loud applause from the Assembly.

The speech of the Panafrican Parliament President takes part in the commitments by the French national Assembly for the COP 21 which will be held in Paris in December. The electrification initiative for Africa is supported by the Foundation Énergies Pour l’Afrique (Energy for Africa) presided by the former Minister for Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo.

A major social and economic issue

The question of power access is far from trifling. This power shortage has many impacts: it's responsible for deforestation, because it entices to use wood as main fuel. The "walk towards enlightened places", as Borloo said, pushes people to move in main metropolis. At the scale of the African continent, this is an unequalled human issue.

Overall electrification of territories is one of the keys to the African development... and a potential growth relay for European economies. In an interview for Monde Afrique (in French), Borloo states that the trend may mean "between 10 and 15% of growth during 15 years [for Africa], against the current 5% today, and an additional 3% growth for Europe over the same period".

Many initiatives, but lack of coordination

Given the stakes, there are many projects seeking to fill the technological gap of Africa: the UN Green Climate Fund, the programme for infrastructure development in Africa (PIDA) from the African Union, or the Power Africa Initiative announced by Barack Obama in 2013. The Agence française de développement (French Development Agency), main national operator of public support for development, also supports the deployment of power infrastructures in Sub-Saharan and North Africa.

Given the number of initiatives, Borloo asks through his foundation the creation of an agency supervised by 54 African leaders. The structure should coordinate the group of projects and put at each State of the continent's disposal all engineering necessary to the implementation, with a preference for sustainable energy. As such, "Énergies pour l’Afrique" is supported by several major French groups such as Bolloré or Veolia Environnement: for these companies, Africa stands for a promising market.

But before that, a budget is needed. According to expertise carried out by Borloo's foundation, it should amount to 250,000 billion euros. Some 50 billion euros may be obtain through unconditional subsidies by the main countries responsible for climate change. This may be leverage for private investors. On a global scale, says the former Minister, it's a small amount... but which use would have major consequences.

Photo credit: AFD © Laurent Pacoud