| Investments Left: Katse Dam in Lesotho
half of the population has access to electricity. By 2030 the government is aiming to increase total generating capacity by 25,000MW which includes an additional 22,000MW of hydropower. Currently hydro already accounts for 90% of the country’s installed capacity.
3. Ghana – Hydropower is the single largest contributor to annual generation and, with 1584MW of installed capacity, accounts for 40%. Over 80% of the population has access to electricity while there is an estimated hydropower potential of 2480MW.
4. Malawi – This is among one of the least developed countries in the world and only 12% of the population has access to electricity. With 371MW of installed hydropower capacity, hydro accounts for 77% of the country’s total installed capacity. There is an estimated potential for 2000MW of hydropower.
5. Morocco – With 1770MW of installed hydropower capacity and 100% access to electricity, the country is looking to hydropower to strengthen grid flexibility. There is an estimated 2000MW of hydropower potential.
6. Mozambique – Just under a third of the population has access to electricity and this is considered a national priority for the country’s development agenda. Although there is 2216MW of installed hydropower capacity, the country has an estimated potential of 6600MW to fulfil.
7. Nigeria – Although this is Africa’s largest economy, with a population expected to double to 400 million by 2050, power capacity continues to be a handbrake on the country’s growth prospects. With 56% of the population having access to electricity and 2110MW of installed capacity, there is an estimated hydropower potential of 14,000MW.
8. Rwanda – Hydropower currently accounts for 50% of grid connected electricity and just under 60% of the population has access to electricity. The country has an installed capacity of over 110MW.
9. Uganda – Despite being rich in hydro resources only 43% of Ugandans have access to electricity. The country has 1040MW of installed hydropower capacity and 2200MW of estimated potential.
10. Zambia – With 2400MW of installed capacity hydropower accounts for 85% of the country’s total installed capacity. Just 40% of the population has access to electricity but there is an estimated potential of 6000MW of hydropower.
A virtuous circle Addleshaw Goddard conclude that Africa has a unique
opportunity to circumvent many of the challenges associated with the energy transition (such as stranded asset risk, decommissioning and skills-transfer) and develop its power systems with renewable energy at its core. As the report states: “Identifying and mitigating risks should be a virtuous circle for investors and non- investment stakeholders - higher quality mitigation and management of risk leads to a higher quality asset which will appeal to be a broader pool of investors - making it more valuable. For sophisticated investments like hydropower, risk mitigation is never a purely legal job. But having the investment structures, transaction documents and other legal matters carefully implemented to anticipate and mitigate hydropower-specific risks will go a long way to improve the overall quality of hydropower investments and projects.” ●
References The full report can be downloaded at
www.addleshawgoddard. com/globalassets/insights/ energy/investors-guide-to- hydropower-in-africa.pdf
African discussions According to Anton Louis Oliver, Senior Advisor of the REH Group in Africa, there is still a lot of good, efficient, low cost, environmentally and socially sustainable projects that can be developed. However, he cautions, the average age of the hydropower fleet which is keeping the lights on in Africa is now 30 years.
“So not only do we have the need to add on new hydropower but also look at
keeping the existing fleet going,” he said. “If the existing fleet is neglected it will have a serious impact on availability and affordability of power in the region.” Henry Paul Batchi Baldeh is the Director of Power Systems Development at
the African Development Bank. When asked about how it is possible to bridge the gap between investment needs and the dire need for power in Africa, he said that one of the key things the bank is looking for is “a very robust and bankable feasibility study done by quality advisors looking at all the risk areas”. “There’s not a shortage of money as long as your project is bankable, and that’s the problem,” he said. “The most important thing is for your project to have a market, be competitive over its economic asset life and to factor in climate change. We notice that many of the older projects do not factor in climate change. “It’s also extremely important that the utility must be credit worthy. Out of 80
or so utilities on the continent probably only a handful are profitable. So, we are in a role of what we call a sustainability transformation agenda with partners like the World Bank to make sure that we have a path to credit worthiness.”
For more information see the International Hydropower Association’s webinar at
www.hydropower.org/events/hydropower-investment-in-africa-opportunities- and-risks
www.waterpowermagazine.com | October 2021 | 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
