Mitigating climate change, while human population and economy are growing globally, requieres a bold shift to renewable resources. In Africa, the need for this transition is accompinied by the urgency to "ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all" (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7) for almost half of the African human population that currently lacks access. Within this project we investigate how African countries could perform a transition towards entirly renewable based electricity systems. This project provides quantitative, data-based, and spatially explicit analyses and insights on a renewable electricity mix in Africa that could relieve the dam building pressure on African rivers.

Access to publication: Rebecca Peters, Jürgen Berlekamp, Charles Kabiri, Beth A. Kaplin, Klement Tockner, Christiane Zarfl: Sustainable pathways towards universal renewable electricity access in Africa, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment;  https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00501-1 

Press release

Abstract: Half of the African population currently lacks the minimum levels of electricity access defined by the International Energy Agency. However, given the limited fossil fuel dependency and need for energy infrastructure expansion, there are expectations that at least some African countries could avoid fossil fuel dependency altogether and move directly to renewable energy (RE)-based electricity systems. In this Perspective, we present trends in Africa’s RE development and access on a national level and discuss the respective country-specific capacities to lead the transition to sustainable RE for all. If all existing wind, solar and hydropower plants operate on full capacity and all proposed plants are implemented, 76% (1,225 TWh) of electricity needs projected for 2040 (a total of 1,614 TWh) could be met by RE (82% hydropower, 11% solar power and 7% wind power). Hydropower has been the main RE resource to date, but declining costs for solar photovoltaics (90% decline since 2009) and wind turbines (55–60% decline since 2010) mean solar and wind have potential to lead sustainable RE pathways going forward, while also protecting freshwater ecosystems. Efficiently combining the advantages of hydropower with wind and solar will be a more sustainable alternative to hydropower alone. As resource potential differs among countries, transnational electricity sharing is recommended to distribute resources and share nationally produced peak capacity. Comprehensive investigations should further assess and monitor socioeconomic, political and ecological impacts of RE development.