- This hydropower dam-boosting capacity does not meet the continent’s surging power needs.
- João Cunha says the upgrades would accelerate the energy transition away from fossil fuels.
Bank officials of the African Development Bank (AfDB) have announced that the bank is drawing up plans for $1 billion upgrades to a dozen hydropower plants in Africa. The plan covers Nigeria’s largest 760 megawatts (MW) Kainji plant to South Africa’s 2.7 MW Sol Plaatje, including plants in Sudan, Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AfDB disclosed that the planned refurbishments will yield an extra 570 MW across the 12 projects, with the upgrade on the first plants to commence by June next year. João Cunha, the head of the renewable energy division at AfDB, said the upgrades would “accelerate the energy transition” away from fossil fuels. Although only a fraction of its potential is harnessed, hydropower is a cornerstone of renewable energy and water management in Africa, where climate change worsens droughts and floods and hundreds of millions lack access to electricity.
Though this dam-boosting capacity is often unable to meet the continent’s surging power needs, a lack of spare parts, obsolete components and poor maintenance have hit the continent’s hydropower. Some of the plants built in the 1950s have fallen into disrepair. An AfDB-commissioned study in August by the International Hydropower Association found that out of 87 plants across Africa, 21 with a total capacity of 4,600 MW needed urgent rehabilitation worth $2 billion. Another 31, totalling 10,000 MW, would require an upgrade in the next decade. The plan seeks to raise output at Nigeria’s 600 MW Shiroro hydropower station close to Abuja, with an extra 100 MW using floating solar photovoltaics.