The energy transition is complex, and it can be hard to know where to turn for information. If you’re a leader, a decision maker, or someone that has a stake in the future of energy and natural resources, then join us on Horizons, a podcast from Wood Mackenzie that explores the world of tomorrow. We'll explore the themes shaping the energy and natural resources landscape, bringing you crucial insights, new perspectives and bold forecasts.
The future of energy is electric. As the world strides towards net zero amid unrelenting climate change, electricity networks will become even more critical to the modern economy.
Nearly 800 million people globally live without access to any electricity, three-quarters of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. Almost half of the world’s population lives without ‘reasonably reliable’ access to power, with frequent outages interrupting their daily lives.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a persistent lack of electricity access in part due to massive underinvestment in electricity infrastructure. Most of its public electric utilities are loss-making, with limited ability to maintain existing assets or invest in new ones. This hampers top-down growth in power supply and improvements in the availability, reliability and affordability of power.
In adversity lies opportunity. Wood Mackenzie estimates that achieving universal electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 presents a US$350 billion opportunity, nearly one-fifth of it off the grid. Decentralised, bottom-up, solar-and-storage grids could not only reshape Africa’s energy future but carry important lessons for the next generation of thinking on utility business models globally.
In this, the March edition of Horizons, Dr Liz Dennett is joined by William Brent and Benjamin Attia. William is Chief Marketing Officer at Husk Power Systems. Husk is an advanced energy services company that accelerates access to clean, modern and affordable electricity in Africa and Asia, by developing and operating renewable energy minigrids. Benjamin Attia, author of this month’s Horizons report, and Senior Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, explores the future of energy in Africa and explain Wood Mac’s ‘Utility 3.0’ tool for analyzing infrastructure.
As demand grows in Sub-Saharan Africa, how they respond to it will fundamentally reshape the trajectory of global electricity demand. The evolution of the utility business model is an essential piece in the energy transition puzzle. Decentralised, bottom-up, solar-and-storage grids could not only reshape Africa’s energy future, but carry important lessons for utility business models around the world.
Read the report and listen to our other Horizons podcasts at https://www.woodmac.com/horizons/
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