How ECOWAS is making strides in energy security in west Africa

West Africa faces a challenging energy situation exemplified by low energy access rates and energy security concerns but West Africa has also considerable energy potential and is a champion of regional energy cooperation.

Access to sustainable energy services is a critical development enabler for West Africa. Yet, over half of the population of the fifteen ECOWAS countries, some 196 million people have no access to electricity. Access in rural areas is particularly low – in nine of the ECOWAS countries lower than 15 percent. The lack of access to clean cooking solutions is even more striking as it concerns 278 million people or 79 percent of the population. Energy security in the region is also challenging. Energy consumption rates have been growing considerably, and many utilities are struggling to keep pace with investments in power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. This is exacerbated by technical and commercial losses in the transmission and distribution networks and in many cases governance issues in relation to the management of the utilities.

At the same time West Africa possesses considerable untapped energy resources, notably renewables: from solar in the Sahel countries, hydropower in the different river basins to wind in the island and coastal areas. The region pursues a coordinated response to its energy challenges and set-up several specialised institutions dedicated to foster energy sector integration, such as the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) which regulates regional cross-border electricity trade and the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), which promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy. ECOWAS has adopted ambitious long-term objectives for energy access, renewables and efficiency, envisaging universal energy access by 2030. All ECOWAS member states prepared Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action Plans, as well as Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Action Agendas outlining how to achieve universal energy access, increase the share of renewables and improve energy efficiency.

Universal energy access in West Africa will require an optimum combination of on-grid, mini and off-grid solutions. On the off-grid side, while East Africa is ahead of the curve, industry leaders are engaging in the region and some countries like Sierra Leone and Togo have declared at the highest level their intention to develop the sector. Distributed generation can increase energy access faster, more cheaply, and more widely than conventional grid extension, driven by innovative business models and rapidly decreasing technology costs. Africa is on the verge of leapfrogging towards distributed energy systems in rural areas in ways not dissimilar to Africa moving straight to mobile telephony.

Achieving the regions’ targets will require considerable financial support. The total development finance committed to West African countries surpassed US$1.6 billion in 2015 with a clear upward trend in the last five years. Yet, these investments fall short of what is required to achieve the region’s ambitious energy targets. A significant increase of private sector investments will therefore be key.

The African Development Bank has placed energy at the top of its priorities and launched the New Deal on Energy for Africa with the aspirational goal of achieving universal energy access by 2025. The AfDB has committed to increase its investments to US$12 billion in Africa for the 2016-2020 period, and at the same time to increase its leverage by de-risking private sector investments, mobilising co-financing at scale including climate finance, and scaling-up project preparation support to increase the pipeline of bankable projects. Let us work together to light-up and power West Africa by 2025.

Original source: DevFin.
Posted on 27 September 2017