CAPE TOWN (AFP) — Solving Africa's power crisis will require greater energy efficiency and countries making better use of renewable resources, the World Economic Forum on Africa heard Thursday.
The continent, where 600 million people still don't have electricity, has to think of better ways to promote energy efficiency while reducing enormous losses of energy from people illegally plugging into the electricity grid.
Pierre Gadonneix, chairman of Electricite de France, one of Europe's largest energy players, told delegates in Cape Town that Africa had the unique solution of vast sources of renewable energy sources at its disposal.
"It is clear there is not enough renewables used in Africa when you think about what what is possible with the wind, with the sun. You have too many countries in which there is no policies about renewables."
Africa is at the mercy of the global triple threat of fuel, finance and food, delegates to the conference heard earlier, and as economic growth soars on the continent, available energy is rapidly proving insufficient.
In South Africa, energy giant Eskom is suffering the results of years of failing to invest in energy infrastructure, with widespread blackouts affecting the mining industry and growth.
Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga, whose company is trying to raise prices by 53 percent, said the energy sector needed better pricing levels, more competition and more investment from the private sector.
"In the context of South Africa, I think power is the most scarcest commodity but if you ask what is the most cheapest it's power. In an environment where you have a commodity that is the most variable, it can't be the cheapest."
Gaddoneix said energy was not a commodity like any other where normal rules of competition applied as it was an essential good, however people had to face up to the fact that energy was expensive.
"Energy is expensive, whatever happens it is going to be more expensive. This is reality … because oil is expensive."
Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, said being more energy efficient was the "alternative fuel" everybody was looking for.
"We normally talk about renewables, new sources. This is all very good, this is all very costly. But where can we get it quicker and where can we get it at less cost – Using alternative fuel, and that is consuming less and being more energy efficient in what we are doing."
Gaddoneix said losses of energy, either unavoidable technical losses in distribution or non-technical such as people plugging into power grids illegally, was the most urgent issue in Africa.
"It's enormous, in Africa the average is above 20 percent. The technical losses that you cannot avoid … somewhere between 7.5 percent and eight percent."
