Spreading Renewables South: Into Africa

Abstract

There is a large potential for renewable energy development in Africa, but there are also major social, economic, and political hurdles to overcome. This chapter first sets the scene, exploring some of the energy choices and identifying some of the key development issues. One of them is the huge size of the continent, which makes providing power grid links to its often widely dispersed rural population difficult and off-grid options more attractive. A series of case studies then looks at how issues like this have played out in a range of countries and at the role played by the European Union (EU) development aid and technical assistance, and also at China’s involvement. The key issues of project accountability and output assessment are explored.