Status of renewable energy consumption and developmental challenges in Sub-Sahara Africa

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Abstract

Energy use is a prerequisite for physical and socio-economic development in both rural and urban communities. There is a need to promote and guarantee energy security, availability and reliability to preserve any existing level of development and further new developmental strides for human comfort. Access to modern energy is considered one of the foremost factors contributing to the disparity between developed and developing nations. Undisputedly, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the most physically and economically backward developing and poverty-stricken region in the world. The slower rate of development can be attributed to the low access to modern energy use in the region as a result of a high level of constraints ensuing from underprivileged energy policies, inadequate funding, ineffective energy infrastructures and the low pace of technological diffusion. These overlapping deficiencies are responsible for the looming scenario of energy crisis in the region, which has heightened the degree of dependency on combustible renewable energy sources for primary energy consumption. The application of modern renewable energy is a negligible component in the regional power sector compared with its naturally endowed potential. This review presents the current state of affairs of renewable energy application in SSA. From a focal point of view, wind energy, solar energy, hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal energy are fundamentally discussed within the framework of socioeconomic and technological developmental challenges in this review article. It was stressed that combustible bioenergy is excessively consumed in the region especially in the rural segment of society. It also pinpoints some prevailing challenges negatively influencing the development of renewable energy using modern technologies. Conclusively, this research highlights the need for effective international and cross-sector collaboration on inputs from financial, resource and technological development mechanisms for renewable energy exploitation.

Introduction

The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region is at the moment engrossed in the mesh of an energy crisis and undisputable socio-economic deficits. The region accommodates 13% of the human population in the world [1]. Access to modern energy in SSA has been time after time ranked underprivileged and the region was said to have occupied the last position in terms of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and contemporary developmental strides. SSA is the least developing sub-region of the world with a very high number of dispersed rural settlements. The scattered nature of the rural settlements is responsible for the sub-region being technically and economically weak in achieving substantial grid connection development in the power sectors of many countries in the region despite the continuous increase in electrical energy demand. Between 1980 and 2007, world energy consumption grew by 5.4% while that of SSA grew by 1.54% with the regional countries’ consumption accounting for only 2% of the world total [2]. Approximately 30% of the population in the region has access to electricity [3], [4]. It is apparent that the nominal potential of renewable energy in SSA is great but the sustainable political will and enthusiasm to enact the regulatory framework for exploitation through modern techniques is low. This disparity is explained in more detail in Table 1 [5], which expresses the annual production potential of renewable energy (RE) relative to the present annual domestic energy consumption in the majority of countries in SSA.

Furthermore, in urban areas where the government has focused more attention on the delivery of electricity services to consumers, many households are subjected to underserved conditions, a problem resulting from supply system constraints and insufficient generation. Most urban areas in SSA have a very low percentage of electricity connection access due to the high price of fossil fuel electricity, unregulated tariff mechanisms and poor subsidy packages. In the last few years, some countries in the region, though limited in number, have made remarkable steps forward in providing access to electricity. In 2008, household access to electricity in Mauritius, South Africa, and Ghana stood at 100%, 70%, and 56%, respectively [6].

The majority of people in SSA exceedingly depend on biomass especially combustibles for primary energy generation for domestic cooking and heating purposes. Combustible renewable energy resources especially charcoal, wood fuel, dried crop and animal residues have some environmental effects due to incomplete combustion. Charcoal and firewood produce emissions but they are lower in charcoal compared to firewood stoves [7], [8], [9]. These combustible bioenergy sources are used in traditional stoves with no provision for direct or indirect indoor air pollution control. Low combustion efficiency is another characteristic of the stoves although presently technical efforts are being harnessed for improvement. The degree of success has reportedly varied with the ability of designers to alter some design parameters and the introduction of new design concepts.

Recent increases in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have renewed concerted interest in renewable energy to safeguard the environment. Exploitation of renewable energy (RE) sources is one of the most prevalent and suggested strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change [10], [11], [12]. In many countries worldwide, national administrators in cooperation with international communities have been making rigorous efforts to moderate the discharge of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and others) into the atmosphere. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) [13] stated that in 2005, 68% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions were obtained from energy related-activities. Improving electricity access in SSA has become a serious aspiration for regional stakeholders, which is in concert with global efforts towards rapid transformation to renewable energy supply. Currently, there is the potential for transition from a high to low carbon regime, which is known as clean energy development. In this regard, this paper reviews the current status of renewable energy consumption in SSA and discuses some theoretical issues negatively influencing the development of modern techniques for renewable energy exploitation in the region. Renewable energy policy intercessions in the region are also discussed within this review article.

Section snippets

Energy in a progressive society

Development may occur in the form of physical infrastructural transformation, technological acquisition and human capacity building purposely undertaken to sustain modern comfort and foster the socio-economic development and globalisation of human societies. All forms of development can be achieved sustainably provided that there is adequate and sustainable interaction among energy sources, human beings and society. Interactions for constructive development of any sort require modern energy

Current uses of renewable energy in SSA

The majority of electricity networks in SSA are weak in performance and technically unstable resulting from aging facilities. The winds of electricity deregulation, which is really making progress in Europe among other fast developing economies, is unremarkable in SSA. The reason is that most of the countries in the region incline to monopolistic conceptions regarding power market operations. This has negatively affected the performance of the power sector in the region. The characteristic

Challenges facing renewable energy development in SSA

The starting point of sustainable energy technology transfer to mitigate the impacts of climate change from industrialised nations to the developing world is enshrined in Article 4.5 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [70]. Both developed and developing countries are striving towards replacing certain quantities of their fossil fuel consumption with renewables to minimise their contribution to critical environmental issues. These efforts have been echoed in

Regional bodies and renewable energy for rural development in SSA

Electrification in rural and isolated locations in SSA hardly attracts government attention due to the economic costs of traditional grid expansion lengthy distances and to scattered geographical settlements. Renewable energy distributed generation systems are now being considered as viable options for providing solutions to electricity scarcity in such areas. Various international communities supporting RE development have been advocating the need to reasonably reduce the number of people

Renewable energy policy issues

The restructuring of electricity in the SSA has given birth to several national policy frameworks regarding distributed generation of electricity mostly in rural areas. In different countries of SSA, a number of policy actions have emerged in favor of renewable energy consumption. In some cases, the policy mechanism is structured to directly integrate renewable energy applications into the power sector so as to enhance power supply reliability, security and availability through the phenomenon

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is obvious that the entire Africa region is naturally blessed with renewable energy resources and the SSA region is even richer from a sub-regional perspective. The poor state of renewable energy application highly rests on the poor level of technological applications and insufficient energy infrastructural development to cater to sustainable uses of resources. The SSA energy sector makes minimal use of fossil fuels and to some degree small hydropower (SHP) but extensively

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