Adnan Adams Mohammed
The United Kingdom’s Trade Commissioner for Africa has added his voice to the numerous speakers drawing the attention of energy sector investors to the great opportunities in Africa’s renewables.
The Commissioner reiterated the fact that renewables are bringing down cost of energy generation amidst the challenging times for fossil fuels which has been witnessing surging prices on the international market.
The Trade expert agreed that, renewables represented a significant investment opportunity for international as well as domestic companies, and assured of UK’s commitment to investing in Africa’s green-energy potential.
“Renewables are a good investment,” John Humphreys said delivering a keynote address at the Green Energy Africa Conference, yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa. “Renewables are bringing down the overall cost of energy, and making business more efficient, which makes it an increasingly attractive investment.”
“With a growing population and an economy worth $2.4 trillion, there are huge opportunities across African emerging sectors such as technology, clean energy and sustainable infrastructure,” said Humphreys. “We are excited to be growing the UK-Africa relationship in these industries.”
The Green Energy Africa Summit plays its role in driving enabling environments to ensure foreign direct investment is deployed into game-changing projects that will reduce the energy deficit and provide energy access across the continent.
GEA Vice President of Energy & Government Relations, Paul Sinclair, speaking at the event said, the views of business leaders supported the mission of the Summit to improve sustainable energy access in a way that made business sense.
“We completely agree that there are great opportunities in low-carbon energy,” he said. “This event is all about enabling investment into new energy projects, providing energy access and shaping the future of Africa.”
Also speaking at the event, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) CEO, Emrie Brown, said the Private power is booming as she identified a growing trend for metros and private companies to either generate their own power, or to source it from third parties, as power opportunities expanded beyond the traditional state utility generators.
Brown said only a fraction of Africa’s energy potential was currently being exploited – in areas such as hydropower, solar, biomass, wind and geothermal energy.
“Domestic and international capital must be mobilised for innovative financing in Africa’s energy sector with a focus on renewable energy. Electrification efforts need to be open to private-sector investment and innovations, such as solar energy and battery storage, which have made a tremendous impact in enabling access for millions of poor and underserved households.”
Brown said the challenge of Africa’s energy transition was twofold: managing the risks to vulnerable communities directly impacted by climate change, while at the same time supporting the people whose lives are inextricably linked to the fossil fuel industry, and for whom that transition represents a direct threat to the livelihoods.
“The greatest challenge is to deliver the vision of a just transition – a more socially inclusive society, which has managed the social risk of the change and sees the economic opportunity that the change brings,” she said.
