Business
Wind Power begining to get traction in Africa
Last year, investment in South African renewable energy increased in excess of 20,000 percent, he said.
Meanwhile in Kenya the US$815 million, 300 megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is hoping to break ground in November this year.
(More: Kenya: Wind Power generation – getting closer to reality)
With wind flow of 11.8 metres per second the project is “a dream” according to chairman Carlo van Wageningen.
According to Richard Doyle of renewable energy consulting firm 3E, tough conditions in key green markets like Europe have played a role in the pivot to Africa. So too, the healthy returns promised in developing markets.
“There’s been a veritable flood of companies out of their home markets in Europe into developing economies generally and Africa is one of those focal areas.” However, he added that any “boom” tag had to be qualified by recognizing conditions elsewhere.
“If markets were less tight in Europe, would as many developers be in Africa? Almost certainly not,” he said. And the Global Wind Energy Council secretary general Steve Sawyer says public financing will always play a role in smoothing out erratic investment flows. However, he said, there was growing understanding among governments that “in order to create a sustainable energy system, a large degree of private investment is required”.
“That level of investment can only be achieved by creating the kind of policy environment which sufficiently reduces the risks to investors such that they are willing to do project finance,” he added.
