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The Role of Renewable Energy in Bridging the Electricity Gap in Africa

  • Regional Renewable Energy - Africa (D Arent and N Lee, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This paper explores the role renewable energy can play in supporting sustainable electricity access in Africa, with a particular focus on the challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Recent Findings

The studies in this review highlight various power system analyses across multiple regions in Africa. These studies provide high-resolution multi-criteria data for geographic siting of renewable energy, assess the scale of generation expansion needed to achieve universal access, and demonstrate innovative modeling techniques that plan for on-grid and off-grid systems concurrently. This review also highlights the challenges of power sector finance in Africa and discusses the emerging literature on broadening energy planning beyond techno-economic approaches. Altogether, these studies enable a deeper understanding of the benefits of renewable energy adoption and integration in the region.

Summary

Africa is experiencing a persistent, complex, and multi-faceted electricity gap. Renewable energy presents opportunities for Africa to achieve full electricity access in an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable manner.

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Notes

  1. Population growth forecasts are taken from the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, custom data acquired via website.

  2. The current generation capacity per capita of South Africa as of 2016 is approximately 800 MW/million.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank JuanPablo Carvallo for his insightful review of this paper. N.A. thanks the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for its support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy and Resources Group, University of California Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3050, USA

    Nkiruka I. Avila & Daniel M. Kammen

  2. Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3050, USA

    Nkiruka I. Avila & Daniel M. Kammen

  3. Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California Berkeley, 2607 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3050, USA

    Daniel M. Kammen

Authors
  1. Nkiruka I. Avila
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Correspondence to Daniel M. Kammen.

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Nkiruka I. Avila and Daniel M. Kammen declare no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Regional Renewable Energy - Africa

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Avila, N.I., Kammen, D.M. The Role of Renewable Energy in Bridging the Electricity Gap in Africa. Curr Sustainable Renewable Energy Rep 5, 205–213 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-018-0117-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-018-0117-5

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