The electrification of Africa will be one of the greatest challenges and opportunities of the clean energy era. In order to build a carbon-free economy, Africa must skip a stage that a country's economic development must pass through. Currently, 600 million people on the African continent still lack access to energy. But instead of seeking cheap and abundant fossil-fuel resources to jump-start economic development, as other countries have historically done, African leaders face the necessary and almost unprecedented step of skipping cutting-edge green technologies directly.
It's not easy. Africa faces a challenging energy trilemma: as energy demand grows, they must ensure that energy supply is sufficient, affordable and sustainable. This will be difficult as the continent's population continues to grow, and meeting demand through any kind of energy production - clean or otherwise - will prove a challenge. Projections show that by 2050, a quarter of the world's population will live in sub-Saharan Africa. Population growth combined with ongoing industrialization means Africa's energy demand is expected to increase by a third over the next decade. This will require a 10-fold increase in power generation capacity by 2065.
The continent's abundant solar, wind, hydro and geothermal resources, and huge and growing demand, make it a prime location for investors looking to invest in the underlying investment in what is sure to be a major fast-growing emerging market. Foreign investors have poured into Africa's energy sector, trying to build influence in the early stages of what could be a very lucrative industry.