A new report by Timetric’s Construction Intelligence Center (CIC) tags Africa as the leader of renewable projects investments over the Middle East. The report says some African countries are moving to renewable energy to help solve their acute power supply problem with Nigeria leading the way in value of projects in biomass and solar, South Africa for wind power, Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) for hydroelectric, and Kenya for geothermal project investment. Timetric estimates that more than half of the $717 billion of power generation projects planned or underway in the 21 countries studied are from Africa. African countries account for $413 billion of the total value. Solar and biomass projects in Nigeria account for $32.9 billion and $1.2 billion respectively making the country the leader of the 21 countries studied in these sectors. Solar energy is also being promoted through locally developed projects allowing investors to receive a tariff return by feeding power into the grid. Across Africa hydropower is making a push with the DRC projects valued at $11.2 billion. Timetric attributes this to the abundance of rivers and government strategies to move away from fossil fuels. The Inga Power Plant in DRC is planned to be more than twice the size of the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the Three Gorges Dam in China and deliver 4,800 MW capacity at a cost estimated at over $9.0 billion. Wind power projects are dominated by African countries taking the top six places headed by South Africa, with projects valued at $5.9 billion followed by Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. “Africa is at the leading edge of renewable power generation project developments in the Middle East and Africa. The developing countries in Africa are showing high growth in their economies but can only sustain this by creating reliable and sustainable power generation. Solar, hydroelectric and wind schemes figure largely in many African countries’ power generation strategies,” says Neil Martin, Manager at Timetric CIC.
