Wind power blows into Africa

www.capitalfm.co.ke
26 May 2013

CAPE TOWN, May 26 Giant turbines churning in the wind are a rare sight in Africa-but that will not be the case for long. Until now the meagre amounts of investment in African wind power have predominantly come from governments and foreign donors. But this is changing fast, say experts.

Private investors smell profit in beefing-up the continent's over-stretched power grids and swarms of new wind turbines are soon expected to emerge. If all plans on the table come to fruition, capacity will increase tenfold. "When you look at the on-going and planned projects, you see actually over 50% of the projects being sponsored by the private sector", said African Development Bank economist Emelly Mutambatsere.

Today wind makes up one% of electricity production, or just 1.1 GWs. But an additional 10.5 GWs is in the pipeline. According to an African Development Bank study of 76 wind projects, two thirds are pending. Liberalisation of electricity markets has helped prise open the sluice gates for investment. "The state still plays a big role in a lot of the countries", Mutambatsere told AFP. "But a number of countries have liberalised to some extent".

North Africa-including Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco-have led the way. But sub-Saharan Africa is catching up. This year saw the first large commercial wind farm in the region come on line, a 52 MW project in Ethiopia. Further south, the continent's heaviest carbon emitter South Africa is a striking example of the sector's growth.

The coal-rich nation-gunning for an extra 18 GWs of capacity from renewables such as wind-has opened power production projects to private bidders for the first time. The first bidding round of 28 projects drew $5 billion in investments, according to the energy ministry.

"There's a huge boom going on in South Africa in wind and renewables", said South African Wind Energy Association CEO Johan van den Berg. "South Africa previously had eight operative wind towers or turbines and there's about 250 under construction at the moment".

Last year, investment in South African renewable energy increased in excess of 20,000%, he said. Meanwhile in Kenya the $815 million, 300 MW Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is hoping to break ground in November. With wind flow of 11.8 metres per second the project is "a dream" according to chairman Carlo van Wageningen.