Noticias

Fuente: Punch

Electricity consumption in Africa, on both a total and a per-person basis, is relatively low, but has tremendous growth potential, the United States Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

The EIA, in its International Energy Outlook 2020, said the relatively low consumption, in part, resulted from the limited reach of central grid power in rural areas and the unreliability of central grid power in urban areas.

“Use of such options could shift Africa’s power generation mix away from the coal and natural gas currently used in the central grid toward a greater contribution by renewable resources to meet demand,” it said.

According to the report, in 2019, with a population of 1.3 billion people, Africa had nearly four times the population of the US, and Africa’s population is expected to grow to 2.4 billion by 2050.

“Yet, with an average net electricity generation of about 600 kilowatt-hours per person per year – less than six per cent of the United States average per person – Africa generated only 804 terawatt-hours of net electricity in 2019, 20 per cent of the United States total that year,” the EIA said.

It said Africa could meet its electricity growth needs in different ways depending on whether development comes as an expansion of the central grid or as off-grid systems.

The EIA said, “Falling costs for solar photovoltaic installations and increased use of off-grid distribution systems have opened up technology options for the development of electricity infrastructure in Africa.

“Africa’s power generation mix could shift away from current coal-fired and natural gas-fired technologies used in the existing central grid toward off-grid resources, including extensive use of non-hydroelectric renewable generation sources.

“Despite a large and rapidly growing population, the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects electricity consumption in Africa to remain a relatively small share of global totals through 2050.”

According to the report, most of Africa’s natural gas-fired generating capacity is located in Africa North, where most of the natural gas resources in the continent are located while most of the continent’s coal-fired generating capacity is located in Africa South.

It said, “The Sahara Desert creates a barrier to shipping fuels and transmitting electricity on the continent.

“The two fuel supplies are not easily transported across the continent because of infrastructure limitations, and electricity is not easily transmitted because of the lack of interconnection between the two regions.”