Recent months have seen Europeans shocked by the seemingly never-ending tide of migrants, refugee and asylum-seekers at its borders.
The headlines have been grabbed by the plight of Syrian refugees, who are escaping the country's civil war. But, data from Frontex, the European border agency, shows that tens of thousands of migrants come to Europe from Sub-Saharan Africa every year, fleeing poverty and human rights abuses.
Most would agree that the only long term solution is to raise living standards in Sub-Saharan Africa, to levels comparable to those found in Europe. But what is happening at a basic infrastructure level to provide the things most of us take for granted, like electricity?
Powerful potential
A report published earlier this year by consultancy McKinsey, does a good job of breaking down the electricity sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Just seven out of the 48 countries in the region are able to provide electricity to more than half of their populations. These are: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa. The average grid access rate in the other countries is just 20%. “Moreover, even when there is access to electricity, there may not be enough to go around,” the report adds.
Around 800 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. McKinsey predicts massive growth in the region's power sector over the next quarter of the century, as electricity grids and power plants are built to meet their needs.“We project that Sub-Saharan Africa will consume nearly 1,600 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2040, four times what was used in 2010...as much electricity as India and Latin America combined did in 2010.” the report says.
By 2040 up to 80% of Sub-Saharan Africa will be electrified, the report predicts. The slow progress is anticipated mainly because of the lack of experience running “mega-projects” in the region and a history of cost and schedule overruns.”
“Another major challenge is the coordination of such a massive investment programme,” it adds. “A very real danger exists that too much focus will be on generation requirements, resulting in under-investment in transmission and distribution.”
Hydropower
A quarter of a century is a long time to wait for electricity. Although McKinsey's crystal ball isn't foolproof, other organisations, such as the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa, say that funding for infrastructure projects in Africa is increasing year-on-year.
The increased number of power projects under construction or in the advanced stages of planning mean the region is on course to double the amount of generating capacity it has online by 2020.
There are also a range of energy generation sources being developed, including renewables. Around 15% of the world’s hydro power potential is in Africa and less than 10% is currently utilised.
Victoria Falls
Last month it was announced that a series of small and medium sized hydro power plants are to be built in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana and Mozambique. The plants will be built by Hydroneo Afrique, a subsidiary of hydropower company Mecamidi, at a cost of $500 million.
The project is being funded 50/50 with private equity group the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). The hydropower plants will deliver 200 MW of capacity over the next five years.
Jurie Swart, the chief executive of AIIM, says: “Africa has extensive untapped hydro power potential and small and medium hydro power plants would be a holistic solution to Africa’s growing energy-generation capacity gaps.
Geothermal
There are other renewable energy sources in the region. The 1000 MW Corbetti geothermal facility is under construction in the south of Ethiopia by an Icelandic-US developer called Reykjavik Geothermal (RG) and will tap into steam from a collapsed volcano.
According to RG, Ethiopia has potential renewable energy resources of around 45,000 MW, including 10,000 MW from geothermal. By 2037, the country aspires to have a total installed generation capacity of 37,000 MW and to be exporting power.
A geothermal plant in Kenya
The first steps towards that goal were taken this summer, when the Ethiopian government signed off a deal to buy the first 500 MW phase of the Corbetti plant, which is due to be online by 2020. The plant will be Africa's largest geothermal facility when entirely completed as planned by 2025.
Ethiopia hopes the project will become part of an inter-connected energy distribution system that could serve other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Edward Njoroge, a non-executive investment committee member-AREF of Berkley Energy, said: “Renewable energy is clean and we are really very happy to be part of that and to make sure that Ethiopia becomes in the forefront of the renaissance that we are having in Africa of new renewable energy” he pointed out.
RG said: “Ethiopia has a rapidly growing economy. The shortfall in the power sector has been identified as a major impediment to the continued growth of Ethiopia. The untapped geothermal resources are plentiful and accessible.
“Developers can quickly improve indigenous infrastructures and boost local economies while utilising environmentally sound best practices and technologies. The project ties with Ethiopia’s ambitious plans to become a carbon-neutral economy by 2025.”
Gas and Solar
Despite the renewables projects, the energy source most experts expect to dominate the Sub-Saharan Africa energy mix is gas. The McKinsey expects it to represent up to half of the installed capacity by 2040, more than 700 Twh.
Coal's role will fall in relation to other energy sources to represent around 23%. Hydropower is expected to represent 92 TWh and solar to go from the paltry levels installed now to 256 Twh.
Change is happening in the region then, but the challenges are vast. It's only through innovation and commitment in both financing and engineering that the needs of its vast population will be met.