Africa Climate Week (ACW) 2019, underway in Ghana – will address ways to strengthen the deployment of renewable energy resources as well as actions to curbing climate change related issues.
Although Africa is rich in renewable energy resources, penetration of renewables has lagged behind other regions.
However, as costs have fallen the deployment of solar PV, concentrated solar power, and onshore wind has started to accelerate, albeit unevenly across the continent.
The theme of this year’s ACW is, Climate Action in Africa: A Race We Can Win and the event will focus on building a strong regional foundation for climate action under the Paris Agreement.
“Under @IRENA‘s #Africa Clean Energy Corridor work, @GlobalREAtlas has helped assessed financial viability & bankability of 92 solar & wind project sites in 10 countries—informing policy design, including in #Zimbabwe & #Eswatini“—@GurbuzGonul #AfricaClimateWeek pic.twitter.com/Fdr9BI5nTh
— IRENA (@IRENA) March 19, 2019
Cost reductions of renewables
Utility-scale solar PV projects that were commissioned in Africa in 2018 achieved a weighted average cost of 0.122/kWh, some 40% higher than the global average.
In contrast, onshore wind projects achieved competitive prices of $0.056/kWh.
Cost reductions are expected to continue to drop, however, and this makes renewables an increasingly attractive ‘win-win’ solution to drive sustainable development while meeting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
In #Mauritius, grid-connected #solar PV panels are being installed on the rooftops of 10,000 low-income households, who are receiving 50 kWh free #electricity each month. Learn more: https://t.co/ULSglj5L5u #Renewables4Development pic.twitter.com/JVBCFpb13O
— IRENA (@IRENA) March 18, 2019
