We post here the relevant reports for the power sector in Africa. Feel free to join our efforts and share us any other you may have found. We'd be glad to add them to the list. Just sent an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Publication date: 2014, June
Author: Power for All
Description: The white paper "Power for All - The Energy Access Imperative" is a call to a different action for the policymakers, stakeholders, entrepreneurs and customers engaged in driving universal energy access for the billions of people without reliable power. Power for All is an initiative of d.light, a for-profit social enterprise that manufactures and distributes solar lighting and power products to the developing world.
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Publication date: 2014
Author: WB
Description: This study examines the economic conditions facing policy makers, planners, and commercial actors with a stake in gas-to-power development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It looks at the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the gas value chain to identify where the economics align in favor of gas-to-power development and where they do not.
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Publication date: 2014
Author: IEA - International Energy Agency
Description: The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook – a Special Report in the 2014 World Energy Outlook series – offers a most comprehensive analytical study of energy in Africa, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa, the epicentre of the global challenge to overcome energy poverty.
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Publication date: 2014
Author: Chalmers University
Description: The study examines cost recovery problems in off-grid electrification projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The long term success of isolated microgrid projects is analysed with a System Dynamics approach to consider socio-technical and economic factors.
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Publication date: 2013, May
Author: JRC
Description: This report once again deals with renewable energies in Africa providing a deeper analysis of some of the issues involved in the actual exploitability of renewable energies such as, for example, technological evolution of production devices, changes in fossil fuels prices or a more detailed view of the complexity of bioenergy resources in the African context.
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Publication date: 2013, March
Author: WB
Description: As the world demand for energy continues to grow, a big question is where will all the energy come from and what will the price tag be. With such enormous sums needed, public-private partnerships (PPPs) could play a big role. But the financial crisis has raised worries about funding, and much is still not known about how best to attract PPPs. This report reviews the evidence to date with sectoral reforms and considers different approaches in varying circumstances to help outline the potential role of the private and public sector.
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Publication date: 2013
Author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Description: This report summarizes, in non-technical language, the results of recent UNsponsored studies to assess global trends in the deployment of renewable energy technologies and the effectiveness of related government policies, including detailed analyses of Brazil and South Africa, and draws out broad lessons on assessing such policies. It aims to provide guidance to policymakers in other countries seeking to better understand the potential for renewables to play a bigger role in meeting their energy needs and how to go about assessing the effectiveness of policies to exploit that potential.
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Publication date: 2013
Author: IRENA / DBFZ
Description: This report focuses on bioenergy in Africa, as this form of renewable energy represents almost 50% of the total primary energy supply (TPES) for the African continent (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2009a), and more than 60% of the Sub-Saharan TPES. Bioenergy is a strategic asset for Africa’s energy future and needs to be assessed in a transparent manner.
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Publication date: 2012, August
Author: SADC
Description: This Energy Sector Plan (ESP) is part of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP) whose aim is to define regional infrastructure requirements and conditions to facilitate the realisation of key infrastructure in the in the energy, water, transport, tourism, meteorology and telecommunications sectors by 2027. Such infrastructure would enable the SADC region to attain regional integration, economic growth and poverty eradication.
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Publication date: 2012
Author: IRENA
Description: Africa faces a unique opportunity as nearly two-thirds of the additional capacity needed in 2030 has yet to be built. The continent can benefit from the recent global progress and cost reductions in renewable power generation technologies, to leapfrog the development path taken by industrialised countries and move directly to a renewable-based system.
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Publication date: 2012, October
Author: IIASA
Description: The simplest defi nition of universal access to modern energy is the physical availability of electricity and modern energy carriers and improved end-use devices such as cook stoves at affordable prices for all. A target of energy access for all by 2030, set by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC, 2010 ), recommends access to be provided in accordance with this basic defi nition so as to enhance services such as lighting, cooking, heating, and motive power for populations in developing countries.
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Publication date: 2011, July
Author: UNECA
Description: This paper is designed to be a key early output of the PPP-related activities of GPAD’s 2010-2011 Work Programme, which in turn is part of a broader mandate of the UNECA to promote private sector and enterprise development in Africa. As a non-recurrent publication, this paper will serve as the main background document for a workshop entitled “Public-Private Partnerships in Public Service Delivery: Best Practices and Emerging Trends” that will be held in Addis Ababa at the end of June 2011.
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Publication date: 2011
Author: JRC
Description: This report summarizes current knowledge at the Joint Research Centre regarding Renewable Energy in Africa. It assesses current energy consumption and the share of renewables in African states, and attempts to estimate the technical potential of available resources of solar, wind, biomass and hydropower which could be economically used to provide energy for the increasing population.
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Publication date: 2011
Author: IPCC
Description: This article aims to look at the development of renewable energy not only from an economic or environmental perspective, but also aims to include social and partly institutional aspects as sustainable development policy, policy of the sustainable development of renewable energy sources in particular, should cover a much wider solution than just the potential analysis of the development of a specific resource.
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Publication date: 2011
Author: STPGC
Description: This paper attempts to assess the most suitable reform model for the electricity sector in SSA countries, based on evidence obtained from already reformed countries in the region and across the globe - a reform model, which can create a financially strong sector with positive environmental polices that will attract the required investment for geothermal development. The reform models proposed in this paper concentrates on several scenarios for the generation function with special attention paid to the geothermal energy development, and how the geothermal power generation can leverage on the energy sector in the region.
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Publication date: 2010
Author: Imperial College London
Description: This paper “Smart and Just Grids: opportunities for sub‐Saharan Africa” tackles this very important issue, setting out the current challenges and highlighting the role that the rapidly evolving technological and commercial concept of smart grids could play in ensuring a reliable and secure electricity supply for the region.
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Publication date: 2010
Author: Anton Eberhard / Katharine Nawal Gratwick
Description: This study analyses the outcomes of independent power projects (IPPs) across Sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 20 such projects have taken root to date, concentrated mainly in 8 countries. A suite of country level and project level factors play a critical role in determining project success, chief among them: the manner in which planning, procurement and contracting are coherently linked, the role of development finance institutions along with the development origins of firms and credit enhancements.
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Publication date: 2009, December
Author: GTZ
Description: The Regional Reports on Renewable Energies showcase comprehensive, but still selective information on the specific characteristics of the energy sectors of the 30 assessed countries – 17 in West Africa, 5 in East Africa and 8 in Central Asia. Key facts and figures on these energy markets and their RE potential is given in the executive summary of each regional report.
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