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Africa Energy Forum — Powering Africa’s Development
It seems hard to believable that in development circles the crucial role of power as a driver of economic growth and social wellbeing has not always received the acknowledgement it now does. Unfortunately, policies at national development agencies and multilaterals tended to follow the fashion of the time, which focused more on the consequences of underdevelopment rather than on the causes.
Acknowledgement of the importance of power is now tangible, welcome, and long overdue, and is demonstrated by initiatives such as the Africa-EU Energy Partnership. There is growing awareness that the cycle of dependency experienced by many African countries will persist in the absence of an adequate infrastructure to support the means of production.
The difficulties and opportunities of electrification, and in particular rural electrification, in Africa is attracting companies that exhibit a professionalism not always evident in the past. If this translates into sustainable projects it will mark a significant break with many past practices. The tendency for the disbursement of donor funds to be determined by spending targets rather than project integrity has meant that Africa is strewn with failed projects. Not only is this an unacceptable waste of resources but it has reversed development by fostering false expectations that perpetuate inaction on the part of villagers. If villagers had not been promised a working project, it is probable that through their own resources and ingenuity a solution would have emerged. The need to charge a mobile phone is a powerful motivator.
The concept of self-help is gaining currency, and it is with this in mind that future projects should be implemented. Local ownership, local accountability, local customers are elemental to success. The success of projects is as much determined by good management as it is by the use of appropriate technologies. These are factors understood by the private sector, and their involvement in the provision of energy services in Africa is increasingly being seen as instrumental in ensuring the sustainability of rural energy projects.
Funding energy projects in Africa to assist and enhance the elements that support sustainability remains a challenge. But it is a challenge and responsibility that cannot be shirked. Unfortunately, there are issues surrounding development funding that aggravate the task. For too long issues relating to development, climate change, donor funding, aid, and poverty alleviation have been conflated and associated with a sub-culture that eschews commercialism, and in extreme cases is even antithetically commercial. The interdependence of these issues and the overarching objective needs to be rationally understood and articulated if distracting conflicts of interest are to be avoided.
But herein lies the rub, rural energy is not commercial in the true sense, and hence accountability, which is the key element underpinning sustainability, is often missing. The very fact of its absence should resolve the players involved to put in place mechanisms to ensure the accountability necessary for sustainable projects. The zeitgeist would seem to indicate a realization of the difficulties and a resolve to find solutions; and, as a reflection of this growing awareness, the Africa Renewable Energy Forum (AREF), which will be launched in Bordeaux on July 1, will encourage organizations and companies to discuss their options for solving some of the persistent problems facing the rural energy sector.
AREF will be held in conjunction with the Africa Energy Forum (AEF), Africa’s largest power event. The raison d’être for AEF was to create an annual marketplace for private-sector investment and business opportunities in the power and gas sectors. The steady annual increase in attendance over the last 10 years does suggest that it has achieved some measure of success in bringing parties together to explore opportunities in on-grid power.
In recent years, the renewable energy element of the work conducted by a number of the AEF participants has growth, and they are showing an increased interest in discussing issues relating to rural and renewable energy—and so too have the government officials who attend the forum. It would therefore seem timely to launch the Africa Renewable Energy Forum.
AREF will provide a venue where the private sector, government officials, the donor community, and commercial lending institutions will discuss strategies for delivering reliable energy services to rural and peri-urban communities, as well as providing clean energy as part of a country’s total energy mix. Renewable energy can also offer a way of reducing dependency on expensive imported fuel. Morocco, for example, has embraced renewable energy as a way of reducing its coal import bill.
Discussions on the impact of the global financial crisis on development projects in Africa should not be avoided. In the light of the huge funds committed to bailing out western commercial banks, the switching of comparatively meagre sums for development of Africa’s infrastructure seems to smack of double speak on behalf of the politicians who avidly avow their commitment to constructive poverty alleviation.
I would also like to draw your attention to an initiative called "2010: the Year of Electrifying Africa" (YEA), which was launched this year by the charity AfricaConnect to bring to the attention of politicians, the public, and business the appalling waste of potential and hardship resulting from a lack of basic energy services. To find out more about YEA visit the website www.Africa-Connect.org. Your corporate support for this fledgling initiative would be invaluable.
Rod Cargill
Managing Director
EnergyNet Limited
Africa Energy Forum, Bordeaux, June 30 to July 2, 2009