Underpowered : The State of the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of a power crisis marked by insufficient generating capacity, unreliable supplies, high prices, and low rates of popular access to the electricity grid. The region's capacity for generating power is lower tha...
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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Format: | Energy Study |
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/10468575/africa-underpowered-state-power-sector-sub-saharan-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7833 |
Summary: | Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of a
power crisis marked by insufficient generating capacity,
unreliable supplies, high prices, and low rates of popular
access to the electricity grid. The region's capacity
for generating power is lower than that of any other world
region, and growth in that capacity has stagnated. The
average price of power in Sub-Saharan Africa is double that
of other developing regions, but supply is unreliable.
Because new household connections in many countries are not
keeping up with population growth, the electrification rate,
already low, is actually declining. The manifestations of
the current crisis are symptoms of deeper problems that are
explored in this study of power sector institutions in 24
countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, which draws extensively on
a new body of research undertaken as part of the multi-donor
Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD). There are
nearly 60 medium- to longer-term power sector projects
involving the private sector in the region excluding leases
for emergency power generation. Almost half of these are
independent power producers (IPPs). Involving more than $2
billion of private sector investment, these IPPs have added
early 3,000 MW of new capacity. A few IPP investments have
been particularly well structured and contribute reliable
power to the national grid. |
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