Business
Wind Power begining to get traction in Africa
Wind farm located at the Ngong Hills near Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO/File
Giant turbines churning in the wind are a rare sight in Africa, but that will not be the case for long.
Until now the meagre amounts of investment in African wind energy have predominantly come from governments and donors.
But this is changing fast, say experts.
Private investors smell profit in beefing up the continent’s over-stretched power grids and swarms of new wind turbines are soon expected to emerge.
If all plans on the table come to fruition, capacity will increase tenfold.
“When you look at the on-going and planned projects, you see actually over 50 percent of the projects being sponsored by the private sector,” said African Development Bank economist Emelly Mutambatsere.
Today wind makes up 1 percent of electricity production, or just 1.1 gigawatts. However, an additional 10.5 gigawatts is in the pipeline.
