WIND IN AFRICA

'In each market where wind energy is being developed, the state is a big player in the initial stages of industry development' …Dr Emelly Mutambatsere, Principal Regional Economist, African Development Bank…

May 2, 2013 (ESI-Africa)

“…The harnessing of wind energy for electricity production on commercial scale started in Africa in the late 1990s. Our study shows that the first commercial scale wind farms were commissioned in 2000/2001 in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. This was after over a decade of pilot testing with Egypt as the trail blazer…Between 1990 and 2010, wind energy installed capacity increased twelve fold to reach 1.1 Gigawatts (GW) in 2011…

“…[T]he annual growth rate of Africa’s installed capacity was almost twice the growth of global capacity…[I]t remains similar to the growth rate reported for global capacity…This growth followed a phased approach…[starting] with pilot projects, migrating to semi-commercial projects, before reaching full-fledged commercial scale. The average project size has also increased over time, while the lead time achieving commercial scale has decreased…[O]verall, wind energy markets in Africa remains small in absolute terms and the importance of wind in the energy mix is limited, at less than 1% of continent’s total installed generation capacity. This is not expected to significantly change in the medium term…”

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“…[F]our key factors affect the uptake of wind energy…the physical attributes…the level of electrification…the business environment…[and climate change benefits do not mater as much as] achieving energy security, by improving diversity of the electricity generation mix and/or increasing use of locally available energy resources…because Africa still makes a meager contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions…

“…[A]t end-2011... Egypt held half of the continent’s total installed capacity, followed by Morocco with 40% and Tunisia with 5%. Outside of North Africa, there is commercial capacity in Cape Verde, and limited capacity in South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Eritrea and Mozambique…[From a] sample of about 60 ongoing and planned wind energy projects on the continent…South and East African markets [are] in the lead in terms of market growth. South Africa alone is expected to contribute a third of the wind energy capacity currently under developed or planned in Africa; and Kenya is making significant strides toward developing what is poised to be the continent’s largest wind power project…”

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