Abundant Energy, Little Power

摘要

Energy and Africa are not working well together. From Somalia to Harare generators buzz on the streets outside businesses wise enough not to trust the national grid, while huge volumes of energy are exported to the developed world. Africa needs to quadruple its energy production by 2050 to stand any chance of keeping pace with domestic demand at a time when the credit crunch is forcing financiers to tighten the purse strings. Africans have vast energy resources flowing in their rivers, blowing above their heads and buried beneath their feet, but very little of it is being unlocked for their benefit. The World Bank says Africans are still among the lowest users of energy in the world; in sub-Saharan Africa, only 20% of homes are electrified.rnBrian Statham, the head of the South African National Energy Association - known as South Africa's "Mr Energy" - pulled few punches when speaking recently at the Energy 09 conference in Johannesburg: "We are stuck with old technologies, many of them date from the colonial era and a lot of them don't work. We lack the technology and we lack the skills, but even more so, generally across the African continent, we are not renowned for good governance. People think Africa is high risk. People always ask me how do you handle the "informal trading," which is a euphemism for downright bribery. We have to think about solutions, we have to think about the future and how we are going to get ourselves out of this."