A survey by PwC has looked at the future of power supply in the region, assessing the risks as well as utility company plans to secure future supplies.
The survey finds that power utility companies and stakeholders across Africa anticipate a brighter and different outlook for the sector in the decade ahead. Respondents report continued concern about some of the immediate risks to the power system, but are also optimistic about the longer term prospects for electricity in Africa.
Two thirds (67 percent) of those interviewed cited ageing or badly maintained infrastructure as a high or very high concern. Encouragingly, many felt this situation would improve, with only 39 percent predicting that it would be a similarly high or very high concern in five years’ time.
Looking ahead to 2025, respondents anticipate definite step changes in a number of key issues:
- An overwhelming majority (96 percent) say there is a medium or high probability that load shedding will be the exception rather than the norm by 2025. Indeed, nearly three quarters (72 percent) are confident enough to rate that scenario as a high probability.
- 94 percent say there is a medium or high probability that, by 2025, the challenge of finding a market design that can balance investment, affordability and access issues will have been largely solved.
- 70 percent expect cross border electricity flows to be significant by 2025, accounting for a third or more of electricity generated.
The survey also highlights the energy transformation that is taking place, as the market vision for the future will be a mixture of large scale centralised generation and local mini grid and offgrid distributed generation according to the fast majority of survey participants (83 percent).
Read the survey report (PDF).
