April 18
South Africa: South Africa's Electricity Crisis - a Series of Failures Over 30 Years Have Left a Dim Legacy
In 1994, apartheid ended and the African National Congress (ANC) won South Africa's first ever democratic elections, promising "Electricity for All" as part of its Reconstruction… Read more »
March 28
South Africa: South Africa's New Energy Plan Needs a Mix of Nuclear, Gas, Renewables and Coal - Expert
South Africa's economy has been hard hit by 15 years of loadshedding (rolling blackouts). The country's coal-fired power plants have a maintenance backlog and frequently experience… Read more »
March 27
South Africa: What Political Parties Say in Their Election Manifestos About Solving the Electricity Crisis
South Africa is in the middle of a deep electricity crisis. In 2023 the public, many of whom are voters, experienced the worst loadshedding to date, losing power for an average of… Read more »
March 25
Ghana: Ghana's Decades-Old Ambition to Build an Integrated Aluminium Industry Faces a New Hurdle - the Clean Energy Transition
It has been more than 60 years since Ghana's first post-independence leader Kwame Nkrumah first mooted the idea that Ghana should produce aluminium from the country's ample supply… Read more »
March 18
Africa: 76% of Africa's Energy Could Come From Renewable Sources By 2040 - Here's How
Over half of Africa's people - about 600 million - lack access to even the bare minimum of electricity. The tough question to answer is how access can be extended without adding to… Read more »
February 27
Cameroon: Benefits of Using Cleaner Cooking Fuels Are Blunted in Urban Areas Where Outdoor Air Is Polluted
Household air pollution from cooking, heating and lighting with fuels like wood, charcoal and kerosene poses a substantial global health problem. Read more »
February 26
Mozambique: Mozambique's Unstable and Expensive Power Supply Is Devastating Small Businesses
Inside a small bakery in Maputo, the morning's batch of 150 loaves of bread has just gone into the oven. But there's a problem: the electricity has gone out without warning for the… Read more »
February 16
Africa: State-Owned Energy Companies Are Among the World's Most Polluting - Putting a Price On Carbon Could Help
Existing measures to cajole companies to decarbonise, with subsidies for renewable energy and carbon taxes, have failed to prevent global emissions rising. Does state ownership,… Read more »
February 18
South Africa: Corruption and Clean Energy in South Africa - Economic Model Shows Trust in Government Is Linked to Takeup of Renewables
South Africa relies heavily on energy from coal-fired power stations, which emit large quantities of carbon. But making the transition to greater use of renewable energies, such as… Read more »
February 01
South Africa: South Africans Are Opting to Go Off-Grid - How They're Being Helped, and Hindered, in Their Efforts
Eskom, South Africa's state-owned power utility, struggles to generate and supply a stable flow of electricity to meet demand. In 2023, there were times when households and… Read more »
January 09
Ghana: Ghana's Electricity Crisis Is Holding the Country Back - How It Got Here
For well over a decade Ghana was exalted as one of the most promising and fastest growing economies on the continent. Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's New Plan to End Power Cuts Is Seriously Flawed. Here's Why
South Africa experienced unprecedented electricity shortages in 2023 as ageing coal plants became increasingly prone to breakdowns. The country urgently needs to develop new… Read more »
December 10, 2023
Africa: Trash to Treasure - Africa Powers Up from Garbage Dumps
New research on garbage dumps in 44 sub-Saharan African countries shows that 95% are unregulated. The landfill sites still take in new garbage even when they are filled to… Read more »
Uganda: Uganda Will Soon Be Exporting Oil - an Energy Economist Outlines 3 Keys to Success
Uganda entered into agreements in 2012 with two foreign oil entities to exploit its oil resources. Total Energies holds 56.67% of the joint venture partnership and China National… Read more »
December 07, 2023
East Africa: 4 East African Countries Are Going for Nuclear Power - Why This Is a Bad Idea
The east Africa region has the fastest growing population in Africa. Between 2013 and 2017, its growth rate was twice the African average. The region is also experiencing strong… Read more »
December 06, 2023
South Africa: COP28 - South Africa Pioneered Plans to Transition to Renewable Energy - What Went Wrong
South Africa's experience in piloting a new type of climate finance vehicle can inform debates about how to fund a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Read more »
November 23, 2023
South Africa: 12-Year-Old Programme Offers Insights for Countries Moving to Cleaner Power Sources
There are many unknowns about how societies will manage the climate transition. And the associated energy transition from fossil fuel-based energy to renewable energy. Read more »
November 09, 2023
South Africa: Tourists Are Returning to South Africa - but the Sector Will Need to Go Green to Deal With the Country's Electricity Crisis
For the past 16 years South Africans have dreaded rolling power cuts euphemistically dubbed "loadshedding". These are caused by the ailing state power entity Eskom's crumbling… Read more »
October 31, 2023
South Africa: South Africa Power Outages - Some Improvement but a Long Way to Go Before the Grid Is Stable
Over the past few months, South Africa's power generation sector has performed better than expected. Four factors explain this: an acceleration of solar power installations, less… Read more »
September 04, 2023
Africa: Climate Change Will Affect Hydropower - African Countries Must Be Prepared
Hydropower provides clean electricity to millions in Africa. It's the largest source of renewable energy on the continent and accounts for nearly one quarter of total electricity… Read more »
September 03, 2023
Zimbabwe: Climate Action Plan - A Win for the Environment, Health and Energy
The dumping of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere yearly is already having a devastating impact around the world. This includes… Read more »
July 26, 2023
South Africa: Eskom and South Africa's Energy Crisis - De Ruyter Book Strikes a Chord but Falls Flat On Economic Fixes
The former chief executive of South Africa's power utility, Eskom, has written a scathing critique of the ruling party's practices that have seriously damaged the country's… Read more »
July 12, 2023
Tanzania: Tanzania's Gas Boom That Never Was - When Local Hopes Are Dashed By Global Realities
Rising international commodity prices can shape or reshape the fortunes of places. When large mining and oil and gas prospectors suddenly show an interest, a remote area can become… Read more »
July 09, 2023
Somalia: Somaliland - Berbera City's Growth Is Being Held Back By a Power Supply Monopoly
Somaliland's main port, at the city of Berbera, accounted for two-thirds of the country's revenues in 2020. Over the years, these revenues have mostly gone into the central state… Read more »
June 13, 2023
Africa: Experts Explain Why It's Still Africa's Best Option for Cleaner, Greener Cooking (For Now)
Africa's growing population desperately needs clean, modern energy in the home. Currently, more than 900 million people, 85% of the region's population, still rely on solid biomass… Read more »