Exploring Africa’s Untapped Wind Potential

Developing Africa’s huge onshore wind energy potential can boost its transition to affordable and reliable clean energy. For the first time ever, wind and solar made up the majority of the world’s new power generation in 2019. A mix of wind and solar energy is not only good for the climate but will help diversify the continent’s energy mix and improve energy security.

A new study for IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, shows that continental Africa possesses a stunning onshore wind potential of almost 180,000 Terawatts-hours (TWh) per annum, enough to satisfy the entire continent’s electricity demands 250 times over.

The analysis, carried out by Everoze, finds that 27 countries in Africa have enough wind potential on their own to satisfy the entire continental electricity demand—estimated at 700 TWh annually. Using high-resolution mesoscale maps, the analysis reveals that many African countries—even those not considered to date as having a strong resource—actually possess world-class wind potential that could be developed to bring clean, affordable electricity to millions on the continent.

At present, the African continent is home to less than one percent of global installed wind capacity. This webinar will present the results of the study and initiate a discussion on ways that more of Africa’s wind potential might be realized.

Programme:

-Introductory remarks by Linda Rudo Munyengeterwa
-Study results by Sean Whittaker
-Q&A