- The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has launched Africa WindPower (“AWP”) to act as an interface between government and the private sector to accelerate wind power development in Africa.
- Africa’s technical wind power potential is enough to power the continent’s entire energy demand 250 times over, but Africa is currently only tapping into 0.01% of its potential with over 7GW of total installed capacity.
AWP offers a platform for dialogue between Africa’s wind industry and government stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of scaling up and accelerating wind project development and deployment across the entire African continent. With sufficient investment appetite already in place, the development of fit-for-purpose government policy and regulation for the energy transition is necessary to unlock private investment from both within and outside of the continent.
Despite an early start for wind energy in Africa, wind energy deployment has often been held back as fossil fuel generation sources such as natural gas continue to make inroads in some markets, and coal, heavy fuel oil, and diesel remain a large part of the energy mix.
A recent report commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) shows that Africa has 59,000 GW of technical onshore and offshore wind potential, enough to meet the continent’s energy demand 250 times over. Building out wind farms that utilize Africa’s vast wind resource will drive investment, create clean energy jobs and critical infrastructure, and help support thriving local economies in line with the region’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Find out more about Africa WindPower HERE.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
