Africa needs $80b to meet energy needs – AfDB

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says Africa needs as much as $80 billion to meet the continent’s energy needs. Some 645 million citizens on the continent have no access to electricity.

A new Atlas data from 54 countries released by the UN Environment and the AfDB during the World Economic Forum in May shows the energy potential of Africa and opportunities for investment to meet the continent’s energy needs. The data indicates that energy consumption in Africa is the lowest in the world, and per capita consumption has remained almost constant since 2000.

“Current energy production in Africa is insufficient to meet demand, with about a third of the total population of Africa still lacking access to electricity,” the data found.

Meanwhile, a briefing paper by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) published in June 2017 says the number of people with access to electricity around the world has increased. It indicates that the rate of electrification grew the fastest from 1994 to 2014 in Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia.

“Investments to increase electricity access have significant implications for economic development and quality of life as well as the energy consumption and energy-related emissions for each country,” it adds.

Citing the most recent data from the World Bank which says 15 per cent of the world’s population – approximately 1.1 billion people lack access to electricity in 2014, the EIA says access to electricity has however, been generally increasing over the past 20 years.

The AfDB in its quest to facilitate provision of energy in Africa, issued the first ‘Light Up and Power Africa’ themed bond worth 10 billion Japanese yen, approximately $88 million in October 2017.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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