Africa Energy

In a bid to reduce the negative environmental externalities associated with heavy coal-fired electricity generation, South Africa is stepping up efforts to increase the role renewable energy plays in its increasingly overstretched electricity sector, pushing ahead with a series of programmes aimed at harnessing the nation’s vast alternative resources.

Highly dependent on coal for its current electricity supply, and facing rising demand and supply gaps stemming from years of underinvestment in capacity expansion, South Africa is embarking on a plan to increase the contribution of gas, nuclear and renewables towards its national energy mix.

Aiming to sustain its impressive economic growth of recent years, Ghana is increasingly focusing on improving its electricity infrastructure. Rising demand, together with inconsistent input supply, is putting pressure on the government and key players to bolster the country’s production and transmission capacity.

Annual figures for Ghana’s nascent hydrocarbons sector – which has spurred a wave of capital spending in the country in recent years – have come in for 2011, bringing with them mixed news. While production levels fell short of expectations, output is expected to rise closer to targets within the next 18 months as technical adjustments begin to pay off.

In spite of the ongoing uncertainty fed by the still-pending passage of the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill, stronger forecasts for offshore production and a renewed focus on processing facilities bode well for Nigeria’s ever-important energy sector.

Encouraged by the rapid development of its nascent oil sector – which began production in record time and helped push GDP growth up to 13.6% in 2011 – Ghana is hoping to cash in equally as quickly on its natural gas reserves but is still navigating the sizeable infrastructural hurdles that need to be overcome in the short term.