The Africa Energy Outlook has released a report, stating that a yearly investment of $25billion is needed to deliver universal energy access in Nigeria and other African countries by 2030.
The report under the International Energy Agency also stated that 600 million people, or 43 percent of the continent’s population, lack access to electricity — mostly in sub Saharan Africa.
The IEA chief, Mr Fatih Birol, said this ahead of the release of the agency’s African Energy Outlook 2022.
For climate finance to enable Africa meet its energy needs and climate goals, the report revealed that this would require over $190 billion each year from 2026 to 2030, with two-thirds going to clean energy.
The report, however, asserts that the continent’s industrialisation relies in part on expanding gas use, which is a change of tune from International Energy Agency (IEA’s) own report on Net Zero by 2050, which called for no new investment in fossil fuels.
He also urged countries to give international financial institutions, especially development banks, a “strong mandate” to make Africa and clean energy on the continent “an absolute priority”.
Renewables — including solar, wind, hydro power and geothermal — could account for over 80 per cent of new power generation capacity in Africa by 2030, the IEA report said.