Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tangier (Agenzia Fides)- Africa has enormous hydroelectric power which it does not exploit. This is the opinion of representatives of 52 electricity companies gathered 30 and 31 October in Tangier Morocco for the 39th general assembly of the Union of African Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa (UPDEA). The assembly is discussing among other things, energy deficits in regional electricity hubs, the funding of priority projects in the power sector in Africa; and the liberalisation of the national electricity sectors. UPDEA is a non profit continental organisation created in 1970, working for the development and promotion of electric power.
It gathers 52 companies distributed across 42 African countries, as well as organisations, companies and professional groupings of electric power sector.
The director general of the Moroccan Office for Electricity said the scarcity of infrastructures in Africa prevents most of the people on the continent from having access to electric power. At present only 36% of the people in N. Africa have access to electric energy and 24% in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Energy Agency estimates that at least 350 billion dollars must be invested to ensure 51% of the population have access to electricity by 2030.
Rising oil prices are having a negative impact on the economies of African countries which do not produce oil. To valorise the immense electric potential Africans are looking at the Congo basin and also nuclear energy (in north Africa and in Nigeria, see Fides 27/7/2007) and the use of biofuel. However the latter could undermine agricultural production of food. Recently a UN expert called the growing practice of converting food crops into biofuel "a crime against humanity," saying it is creating food shortages and price jumps that cause millions of poor people to go hungry.
Jean Ziegler, who has been the United Nations' independent expert on the right to food since the position was established in 2000, called for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production to halt what he called a growing "catastrophe" for the poor. Scientific research is progressing very quickly, he said, "and in five years it will be possible to make biofuel and biodiesel from agricultural waste" rather than wheat, corn, sugar cane and other food crops.
Africa must bring electric power to rural areas without having recourse to large plants or extensive grids, expensive to build and maintain, as well as causing considerable dispersion of power. It would do well to focus on small hydro-energy, solar, aeolian or geothermal plants (see Fides 11/9/2007). In January 2008 the Moroccan Office for Electricity will hold a meeting on supplying rural areas with electric power. During the meeting the Office will present a programme which in 12 years has supplied electrical power to 12 million rural Moroccans. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 31/10/2007 righe 34 parole 423)
