Be intentional about addressing energy access gap – Stakeholders to African leaders

Stakeholders at a dialogue to deliberate on practical ways to bridge the access to energy gap on the continent have underscored the need for African leaders to be intentional about making energy accessible to people living on the continent.

That, they said, was the surest way to bridge the energy access gap on the continent and address poverty. 

The stakeholders are Secretary-General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim; Executive Director of Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC), Justice Ohene-Akoto; the Founder of Turn Up the Light, Noureddine Hamri, and the Board Chairman of United Bank of Africa-Ghana, Kweku Andoh Awotwi.

Dialogue 

The dialogue was organized by ASEC, a leading think tank pioneering sustainable energy solutions across the continent.

It was on the theme, “Bridging Africa’s energy access gap – Challenges, innovations and the path forward”.

It brought together various stakeholders including global and national policymakers, energy sector leaders, development partners, industry experts, academicians, and innovators to proffer solutions to addressing the long-standing issue of unequal distribution of energy on the continent. 

Opening the dialogue last Friday, the Executive Director of ASEC, Justice Ohene-Akoto, explained that the dialogue was the centre’s flagship event aimed at addressing Africa's energy access gap through dialogue, focusing on the social and economic impacts of electricity shortages.

Narrative

He said with over 600 million Africans lacking access to electricity, there was the need to change the narrative from lack of access to the social and economic impact of this shortfall.

“Africa, I always say, is not a poor continent. We should never be poor. We only have to get our fundamentals right, like finding sustainable solutions to energy access,” he added.

He called on African countries to tackle the menace collectively, using collective efforts, and the Ubuntu tradition adding, “We believe the African problem can only be solved the African way”. 

Commitment 

Dr Ibrahim said, “Africa produces enough energy resources, but much of it is exported for foreign currency, leaving the majority of the population in the dark,” he said adding, “75 per cent of the oil that we produce is exported out of Africa and 45 per cent of the gas that we produce is also exported at a time when a vast majority of people on the continent lived in energy.

“If we are committed to making energy accessible to our people everything else we do will fall in line,” he said, citing lack of political will, visionary as the bane of Africa’s energy crises.  

Models 

Mr  Hamri stated that the grid was a big web, hence the need to think about every single inch or kilometer to be supplied, calling for financial models that incorporated cross-subsidies, where urban dwellers and industries pay more to help extend power to remote villages.

“If you have a village that's 10,000 kilometers from the center of production, you have big losses to account for. But you’re also installing your production facilities next to big cities, which are the main consumers.”

He added that in areas where traditional grid expansion proved impossible, decentralised options such as solar utilities, mini-grids, or off-grid solutions were essential. 

Sustainable service 

Mr  Awotwi said the continent’s energy sector challenges were as a result of post-independence policies and misconceptions.

He said electricity was mainly seem as a social good rather than a sustainable service, impeding African country’s capacity to address the challenge. 

He called on African countries to integrate emerging solutions such as decentralized solar power, coupled with a robust sector solvency and regulatory commitment to help address the energy gap.