West Africa needs to brace up for power disruption trends

A report by Deloitte indicates that low levels of power supply among other things are a deterrent for many intending investors across various sectors in Africa especially in West Africa.

According to the report, the power industry continues to be bedevil by challenges such as inadequate generation capacity, poor transmission infrastructure, unskilled or low numbers in the skilled workforce, poor maintenance of existing power stations, as well as poor metering and billing systems resulting in unreliable supply, countries will need to innovate to achieve financially viable growth in the sector.

The report further shows that these challenges coupled with a changing landscape in terms of technologies and the costs thereof, are giving rise to a number of ‘disruptors’ in the sector, inspiring a shift away from traditional generation practices and mixes, methods of operations and systems, funding channels and models, as well as the landscape of players and stakeholders, towards the application of new and innovative technologies and dynamics in power infrastructure.

Those who know in the industry acknowledge that power and energy sector is a critical driver of growth and development across the region adding that in order to ensure that the industry reaches its full potential and addresses the energy needs of citizens, it is necessary for West Africa region to keep up to date with a rapidly changing landscape.

Analysts observe a growing push by some West African countries to deploy gas to fuel power plants.

To them, with the low cost of gas more latterly compared to several years ago, gas powered plants have increasingly become more competitive. Connecting renewable energy onto the grid is becoming more affordable as West Africa is blessed with abundant natural resources.

They maintain that it stands to reason that it is this dynamic that will ultimately impact on and alter the power landscape in the region. While West Africa has typically lagged behind developed markets in the uptake of renewable energy, this will become a feature of the past as appetite for renewable energy increases.

It is well documented that countries in the region have endured challenges in the past with providing their citizens with electricity as a larger percentage of people across the region are still without power, illustrating that much still need to be put in this space.

Analysts are of the views that with the rise of trends like decentralised distributed generation, closing that gap will become more easily achievable.

According to them, “Distributed generation has the ability to bring more citizens into the energy fold through the building of smaller power stations at specific load centres, rather than building bigger, centralised stations that need to transmit power long distance”.

To them, this also assists in reducing transmission losses as power would not need to be evacuated over long distances. The introduction of multiple, smaller grids can substantially assist in transmitting power to where it is needed, bringing down the number of people without electricity.

There are huge opportunities in the decentralisation of renewable energy and businesses and countries that embrace the shift and invest in the space will yield good returns.

ISAAC ANYAOGU