The 20th Session of the Hydro Symposium in Zambia has country representatives urging African governments to harness its hydro potential for two simple reasons: cleanliness and cost efficiency.
According to Lawrence Musaba, the Center Coordination Manager for the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), Africa has a combined feasible hydro-capacity of more than 1,750,000 gigawatts (GW) per year, enough to power the whole continent but unfortunately only 4.3% of this has been exploited.
With seven major river systems (Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Senegal, Orange, and Limpopo) Africa holds 10% of the world hydro-energy potential, but has so far exploited only a small part of its capability.
Officials from the African Development Bank (AfDB) also attended to provide input on the African Energy Policy. AfDB present Donald Kaberuka stressed the importance of pooling energy in order to be more cost efficient. The organization recently approved a $16 million loan for a hydropower project in Sierra Leone as this renewable energy is abundant in southern and eastern Africa at 52% of the continent’s hydropower.
Other projects in the region include the Inga hydropower station in the DRC with the third phase of construction set to begin in 2009. The project is one of several initiatives planned by the Southern African Development Community and is predicted to be the largest single hydropower initiative in the world. The DRC has the potential to produce 100,000 MW of hydropower, with about 44,000 MW found at Inga Falls.