HYDROPOWER
Regional power generation and trade could save Africa $2bn a year
By: Chanel de Bruyn
17th August 2010
Hydropower projects in Africa should be approached in a regional
manner, World Bank Africa region water and hydropower adviser Vahid
Alavian said on Tuesday, highlighting that economies of scale in terms
of electricity generation and regional power trade could save Africa
$2-billion a year.
Despite its large hydropower potential, of about 100 000 MW, Africa
remained behind all other regions in terms of harnessing this
potential, Alavian told the Hydropower Africa conference in
Johannesburg.
The continent, with its lack of electricity generation capacity, had a
huge power investment requirement.
Energy availability in Africa remained pitifully low, while power
remained expensive. This put a brake on the continent's economic
growth and competitiveness, said Alavain.
He added that the continent needed to boost its generation capacity by
about 7 000 MW a year and power connections by about five-million a
year to keep up with demand.
Regional development of hydropower projects could assist Africa in
expanding its generation capacity.
Alavian highlighted that most countries in Africa were too small to
generate hydropower efficiently.
More than 20 countries had a population of less than five-million
people, while another more than 20 countries had economies smaller
than $5-million.
Further, Africa had 60 international river basins.
Any upstream decisions could also potentially impact on downstream
operations on the same river system if proper interregional
discussions were not held, said Alavian.
However, in many cases, the critical transmission links for the trade
of regional power were missing.
Regional power trading could help to reduce costs and facilitate a
shift to cleaner energy forms, including hydropower, he said.
Meanwhile, Nelisiwe Magubane, director-general of South Africa's
Department of Energy, said that the hydropower potential in Africa
could not be underestimated at this critical time in the continent's
development.
She noted that while the capital cost of establishing hydropower
plants were sometimes considered prohibitive, one had to look at the
much lower operating costs than those of other energy sources.
She emphasised the importance of government's allowing private sector
participation in the power sector, in the form of independent power
producers or public-private partnerships.
This idea was shared by Uganda Electricity Generation Company
chairperson Sandy Tickodri-Togboa, who told delegates that the private
sector should not try to develop hydropower projects on their own and
that governments could assist by taking on some of the larger risks to
building such projects.
Further, he highlighted that there was criticism from some that
hydropower projects should not be built on a continent with water
scarcity problems.
But Tickodri-Togboa said that Africa's problem was not water scarcity,
but rather water delivery infrastructure shortcomings. There were many
large rivers and bodies of water on the continent, but there was
little infrastructure, and investment in infrastructure, to deliver
the water to where it was needed.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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