Introduction

Promoting sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa is a challenge for which there are no easy solutions. The region still strives to satisfy many of its fundamental needs, and the task of extending even the most basic services to all members of society is daunting in the face of the highest population growth rates in the world. Energy services might, at first sight, appear to be of limited concern among so many other pressing priorities. However, Chapter 1 has illustrated how a well-conceived and effectively implemented energy policy can both help to direct development down a sustainable path and, at the same time, provide an integrated tool capable of addressing a broad range of development goals. For these reasons, the development of sustainable energy systems in Sub-Saharan Africa could be of crucial value to the region as a whole, to national interests, and to individual inhabitants.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is well endowed with diverse nonrenewable and renewable energy resources (see p.23, Energy in Africa Today). These resources remain under-exploited, primarily because most countries lack both the capital resources and the favourable political and economic environment sought by private investors. SSA’s energy resources are also distributed unevenly across 48 nations, and so the exploitation of these resources will rely increasingly on regional cooperation and cross-border trade. This situation is most evident for hydroelectricity, where many borders and thousands of kilometres separate regions with large untapped potential (e.g. the Congo basin) from major demand centres. It is also true for natural gas - the Kudu field in Namibia and Pande in Mozambique are both a long way from the potential markets in South Africa - and to some extent for biomass and wind resources (which are most abundant in some remote coastal and island locations). While there is significant electricity trade in Southern Africa, and growing trade in natural gas in West/Central Africa, the economic potential of further international cooperation and infrastructure investment is enormous (see p.37, Regional Trade and Cooperation).