Renewable Energy in Africa: Policies, Sustainability and Affordability

Africa is endowed with significant renewable energy resources: abundant biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal and solar energy. However, these huge potentials remain largely unexploited, with sub-Saharan Africa having the world’s lowest electricity access rate, at only about 24%. The level of investment and policy interest in renewable energy remains low. A major challenge to Africa’s efforts to develop renewable energy sources and the associated technologies is cost. Affordability is, therefore, a major consideration in the development/uptake of renewable energy technologies and depends mainly on the type of technology, policy direction, sustainability and investment considerations. This chapter will review the policies and policy direction of African countries on renewable energy and the factors that affect the affordability of the technologies currently and in the future.