Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Since 2000, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen rapid economic growth, expanding population, improving social conditions, and progressive political liberalization. On the basis of these trends, sub-Saharan Africa energy use has risen by 45% since 2000.

In this framework, making energy reliable and widely affordable for the population has been, and continues to be, a key challenge in the sub-continent. In fact, sub-Saharan Africa is rich in energy resources, but very poor in energy supply; to give some context, in sub-Saharan Africa only 290 million out of 915 million people have today access to electricity, and the total number without access is rising.

Notwithstanding the importance and size of these challenges, sub-Saharan Africa's energy sector remains one of the most poorly understood parts of the global energy system and very few international energy research centers have developed consistent activities on and in the region. In this framework, the aim this book is to contribute to the understanding of Sub-Saharan Africa's current and future energy challenges and opportunities.