The region’s potential to supply energy to the approximately 620 million people who still lack access to electricity. Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy has been growing rapidly since 2000, the report notes, but the fact that two-thirds of the region’s population lacks access to electricity is stymieing that growth. Over the next 26 years, sub-Saharan Africa will start to unlock its vast renewable energy resources and that solar energy will lead the growth in renewables in the region. Just 10 percent of sub-Saharan’s hydropower potential is currently being exploited. Geothermal becomes the second-largest source of power supply in East Africa, mainly in Kenya and Ethiopia. $450 billion investment in the region’s power sector, more cooperation in the region on energy projects, as well as better resource and energy-based revenue management. If all three of these suggestions are taken seriously by investors and by African governments, the region’s economy could be boosted by an additional 30 percent in 2040.
Africa hasn’t yet taken full advantage of its renewable energy resources; the continent has worked to increase renewable energy capacity in recent years. According to research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, it is predicted that Africa as a whole will add about 1.8 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in 2014 — an addition that amounts to more renewable energy than the continent added in the last 14 years combined. Over the next two years, South Africa is expected to install 3.9 gigawatts of renewable energy, mostly in the form of wind and solar, while Kenya is set to install 1.4 gigawatts and Ethiopia will install almost 570 megawatts.