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Solar growth in SA “could be explosive”

America might be the land of opportunity, but Sub-Saharan Africa is fast becoming a region to be reckoned with when it comes to renewable energy.

According to research done by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the region is ripe for onshore wind, small-scale and utility-scale solar and geothermal power.

Sub-Saharan Africa will only commissioned a small portion of power capacity when compared to world standards, which at the end of the year should be around 1.8GW, but that is still more than what has been commissioned in the last 13 years.

“The advance of renewable energy in Africa reflects a combination of growing local need for power, and awareness that the cost per MWh of clean options such as wind and photovoltaics has declined sharply over recent years. Renewables can represent a cost-effective alternative, particularly compared to diesel generation but also to power stations burning coal or gas,” Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a blog post.

If large hydroelectric production is excluded, Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that clean energy will spark investment up to $5.9 billion this year for Sub-Saharan Africa, and even though that is 5% lower than last year, it is expected to rocket up to $7.7 billion by 2016.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is not new to renewable energy. South Africa has been an active market for a few years and there have been occasional large investments in geothermal in the Rift Valley countries. What is different now is the breadth of activity, with wind, solar and geothermal exciting interest in many different countries, and the potential for further growth,” explained Victoria Cuming, senior analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

South Africa specifically will be one of the largest producers of utility-scale renewable power, as it has been forecast that the 2014-16 period will see about 3.9GW of power to be installed, with Kenya following suite with 1.4GW, consisting mainly of geothermal and wind.

But the key for the Sub-Saharan region will not be in wind or geothermal, but in solar energy. “The joker in the pack for the Sub-Saharan region is likely to be rooftop and other small-scale PV, which has the potential to enjoy explosive growth in Africa’s towns and cities and also in rural areas not connected to the grid,” said Derek Campbell, Cape Town-based analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

[Source – Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Image – Shutterstock]

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