Power Africa

President Obama promoted his new, multi-billion dollar “Power Africa” initiative to expand electricity access in Africa during his recent visit to Africa, calling it a benefit to Africans and the U.S. alike.

The President said it is a win for the United States because the investments made in Africa, including in cleaner energy, means more exports for the U.S. and more jobs in the U.S

According to reports, Power Africa has identified six initial partner countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania – all of which “have set ambitious goals in electric power generation and are making the utility and energy sector reforms to pave the way for investment and growth. 


Power Africa will bring to bear a wide range of U.S. government tools to support investment in Africa’s energy sector. From policy and regulatory best practices, to pre-feasibility support and capacity building, to long-term financing, insurance, guarantees, credit enhancements and technical assistance Power Africa will provide coordinated support to help African partners expand their generation capacity and access.

The United States will commit more than $7 billion in financial support over the next five years to this effort, and will partner with the private sector, who themselves have committed more than $9 billion in investment. 

See more here

Proposed West Africa Solar Power Commission

ECOWAS. Tapping into solar energy.  This is useful.

In a previous post we discussed the announcement by the EU Commissioner for Energy on the EU's plans to start importing solar power from Northern African countries; Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, through the the Desertec Industrial Initiative, launched in July 2009. 

Along similar lines, West Africa is also gearing up to develop solar resources given the abundance of sunshine and near possession of the largest desert in the world. In this regard, the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS have endorsed an initiative by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal that will enable the region to harness its solar energy potentials through the construction of solar power plants that will provide cheap energy as a complementary source for meeting West Africa’s energy needs. 

The move reiterates a proposal at the Copenhagen World Summit on Climate Change for Africa to commit to solar energy not only because of its availability but also because it is a less expensive source of energy that would help improve the competitiveness of the continent’s industries.

As evidence of support for President Wade’s initiative, the regional leaders urged each Member State to attach technical and financial experts to President Wade ‘in view of establishing the Commission on solar power that shall operate under President's Wade's chairmanship and authority.

EU Plans to Import North African Solar Power

Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 10 • Number 12 • 25th June 2010

Gunther Oettinger, Europe’s Energy Commissioner, has announced that the EU is expected to begin importing hundreds of megawatts of solar energy from North Africa within the next five years. The Commissioner’s comments came following a 20 June meeting with Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan ministers aimed at moving the renewable energy initiative forward. Importing energy from arid regions south of the Mediterranean has been proposed by Brussels as one of several strategies for helping the EU to meet its long-term goal of decarbonising its economy.

The EU currently aims to have 20 percent of its total energy requirements come from renewable sources by 2020. To help meet this goal the EU is looking to import solar energy to supplement domestic renewable energy initiatives. The solar energy captured in northern African nations would be transmitted to Europe via an inter-connector - a high voltage cable that will run under the Mediterranean Sea.

Launched in July 2009, the Desertec Industrial Initiative, which comprises 12 companies including Siemens, Deutsche Bank and REW, is in the process of developing a plan for solar power development in northern Africa. The consortium will seek public funding for its projects. The EU has stated that it will assist with updating regulations to allow transmission across European borders, coordinating stakeholders and conducting feasibility studies. The consortium has yet to produce a business plan for the proposed projects.

“I think some models starting in the next 5 years will bring some hundreds of megawatts to the European market,” Oettinger told Reuters on Sunday after the meeting. The long-term vision for the project is to provide thousands of megawatts to Europe in the next 20-40 years. The project will require a projected investment of about €400 billion and will aim to provide 15 percent of EU electricity demand. Subsidies from the EU will not be considered until the consortium produces a business plan for the project but are expected to go towards the construction of the interconnector.

Because the cost of transmitting energy from North Africa will be significant, officials must first determine whether the costs are offset by the amount of green energy the EU will actually receive. Even if solar power plants in the Sahara exhibit much higher performance, there could be a significant energy loss in the transmission to the EU.

The ministers from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco have agreed they are ready to start trade negotiations. In response to past concerns from Algerian officials regarding the EU’s exploitation of North African resources, Oettinger responded in a Reuters interview by saying, “maybe a bigger percentage of the electricity will be exported to Europe but at the same time we have to export the technology, tools, machines, experts, and so it’s a real partnership, not only a partnership by selling and by buying.”

There are concerns over how the EU will ensure that the energy transmitted is, in fact, green energy, not cheap and dirty fossil fuels. Oettinger says the problem of monitoring must be resolved in the next couple of years.

Technology and Innovation in Agriculture

The Technology and Innovation Report 2010: Enhancing Food Security in Africa Through Science and Technology and Innovation  looks at the current trend towards declining agricultural productivity in many developing countries, especially in Africa.  


1. The Report identifies key challenges in the growth of agricultural capacity. These include: 
(a) declining investment; 
(b) a lack of guaranteed land tenure and access to credit;
(c) isolation of small holder farmers; 
(d) inadequate adaptation to climate change; 
(e) lack of  high technology bio-energy solutions; 
(f) previous structural adjustment policies and 
(g) a lack of regionally relevant innovation priorities in agricultural research and innovation.  


2. To address these impediments, the key recommendations include to:
(a) Place smallholder farmers at the centre of policy;
(b) Strengthen policy maker capabilities;
(c) Target agricultural investment;
(d) Reinforce agricultural innovation systems by focusing on the enabling environment;
(e) Take into account local agro-ecological conditions;
(f) Explore the potential of global networks and value chains;
(g) Link national, regional and international agriculture research to innovation;
(h) Revitalize funding and strategies for research and development;
(i) Promote Linkages Within and Outside of the Agriculture Innovation System
(j) Engage in capacity building;
(k) International cooperation on technology transfer & technology sharing and
(l) Multilateral rule-making and policy space


The Report can be accessed here. 

Trading the Nile River Rights

Following a decade of negotiations under the auspice of the Nile Basin Initiative, the Nile Basin States have opened an Agreement termed the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement, for a period of one year. The Agreement is a landmark achievement given the decades of discontent over the inequitable sharing of the Nile River and will be open for signature until 13th May 2011. The organs consists of the Commission which is comprised of: (a) Conference of Heads of State and Government (b) Council of Ministers (c) Technical Advisory Committee (d) Sectoral Advisory Committees (e) Secretariat according to Article 17 of the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement.

The River Nile is the longest river in the world with three main tributaries which reach ten African countries.  However the resource has been almost exclusively utilized by Egypt and Sudan by virtue of a 80 year old governing legal framework on the utilization of the waters.  The May 7, 1929 agreement between the United Kingdom (on behalf of its colonies) and Egypt, was in the form of exchange notes and the colonial-era “treaty” gave Egypt sole property rights to the Nile's waters, up until 1959 when Sudan formalized a partial-sharing agreement with Egypt.  Meanwhile the sources of the 6695 km Nile river consist of the White Nile which flows from Uganda (Lake Victoria) into Sudan, and Egypt, and the Blue Nile which starts in Ethiopia (Lake Tana) with tributaries in DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Eritrea and Burundi, which flow into the Nile or into Lake Victoria.

Recently, a framework agreement has been agreed upon by Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya who seek to alter the rivers’ water-sharing arrangements, with Burundi and the DRC promising to sign the landmark agreement in the course of the year. The upstream countries want to be able to implement irrigation and hydropower projects in consultation with Egypt and Sudan, but without Egypt being able to exercise the veto power it was given by the 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.  Meanwhile Egypt has reportedly rejected the agreement along with Sudan, however with the new Southern Sudan Government, its not clear how this matter will be handled by the latter.

I suppose the key issues in the newly concluded agreement are those of equity and sustainability. Consider for instance the riparian state of Ethiopia whose Blue Nile tributaries, highlands and lakes are estimated to supply about 86 percent of the total waters of the Nile River, however the country currently only uses about one percent of the Nile’s resources.  Ethiopia unlike most Sub Saharan African countries was not colonized and reportedly does not recognize the 1929 Nile River agreement between the UK and Egypt. Simultaneously the country is faced with grave development needs and challenges, and according to the World Bank 2008, Ethiopia has a real per capita GDP of US$280 (which is below the Sub Saharan Africa average) and a population of about 81 million making her the second-most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa. 

One could say that Ethiopia should view the Nile the same way other sovereign nations view their oil resources or mineral wealth; as a valuable source of foreign currency, development and national pride.  Along these lines, Ethiopia sees a huge potential in the export of electricity and is reportedly constructing a network of mega dams on the web of Nile rivers that tumble down from its highland such as the controversial 243 metres high Gibe III Dam (shown above) at a cost of 1.4 billion euros, which will be the highest dam on the African continent.  This is expected to meet the needs of the rural areas, where the bulk of the 80 million Ethiopians live and where only 2% of households get access to electricity.  Beyond hydroelectric power, agriculture and irrigation are other critical issues also relevant to the utilization of the Nile waters.

This is a complex and historic issue with many facets hence more can be said however, that would the subject of a thesis and not suitable for a blog.  To conclude, let me welcome this new Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement which is expected to formalize the transformation of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) into a permanent Nile River Basin Commission and facilitate its legal recognition in the member countries as well as regional and international organizations. 

NBI was formed in 1999 by its Members, who recognized their common concerns and interests, and whose vision is “to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.” 

For a captivating analysis on this issue click here

Unraveling Africa’s Insufficient Power with the Continents Abundant Energy Resources

Ironically, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is richly endowed with both renewable and exhaustible energy resources yet the continent suffers from power shortages.  The fact is the continent’s energy resources tend to be concentrated in a handful of countries where physical and political barriers to trade make it difficult for countries to access centers of power supply and their economies are too small for  them to develop their own resources. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone accounts for about 40 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s hydroelectric potential, although sources indicate that the Congo River has the potential to power a continent. Additionally, Ethiopia accounts for another 20 percent of the continents potential. However both countries are relatively far from the economic centers in southern, western, and northern Africa, and the multi-billion-dollar investments needed to exploit hydro potential are massive.  In addition, national economic and political considerations in the Africa for Africa models seemingly cannot be set in stone. 

For instance the multi-billion dollar Inga 3, the largest hydroelectric project in Africa, which would have been developed in the Congo River by the Western Power Corridor (Westcor) consortium consisting of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa and the DRC, was supposed to start generating electricity in DRC by 2012 for the participating countries. However the project is reported to have backfired when the DRC's National Electricity Society (SNEL), announced that Westcor would be dissolved.  Instead, the DRC government has opted for a proposal by BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, to build a 2 500-megawatt hydropower plant in the country to support its proposed aluminum smelter.  The DRC government also expressed the view that it would be good for the DRC to retain more electricity for its own use. 

Currently, only 6% of DRC’s population has access to electricity and some NGOs have advocated that if projects are developed, the first priority should be to increase the rate of access to electricity to 60% of DRC’s population. Without such a national benefit from the development, some fear it would cause new civil unrest. They argue that lighting the rest of Africa while leaving most of DRC in the dark would be politically and morally unacceptable.

While national interests are important, the development of regional power pools in Africa is crucial to the development of abundant power resources.  Currently regional power pools have been formed in Central (CAPP), East  Africa (EAPP), Southern (SAPP), and West (WAPP) Africa and the pools are at very different stages of development, both technically and institutionally. For instance, the political process is most advanced in the WAPP, supported by political agreements at the head of state level through the ECOWAS. The pools, particularly the WAPP and SAPP, have facilitated significant cross-border exchanges of power and a number of countries, such as Botswana and Niger, rely on imported power while others, such as Nigeria and Mozambique, are major exporters of power. However, none of the pools are yet at the point where the arrangements are fully competitive.