Several technology advances combined with reducing prices and innovative financing models have made renewable energy projects increasingly practical in sub-Saharan Africa. This in turn has made renewable energy projects less dependent on subsidies, which is a liberating thought – but it is rendered useless when fragile policy and regulatory uncertainty in some markets are driving a slowdown in renewable energy investment.

Policies in some African countries pertaining to renewable energy project can at best be described as vague and mostly – non-existent.

The International Energy Agency’s IEA ‘Africa Energy Outlook’ report released earlier this month estimates, “the sub-Saharan economy quadruples in size by 2040, the population nearly doubles and energy demand grows by around 80%. Power generation capacity also quadruples: renewables grow strongly to account for nearly 45% of total sub-Saharan capacity, varying in scale from large hydropower dams to smaller mini- and off-grid solutions.”

However, the report warns that this growth “must be accompanied by broad governance reforms that include transparent management of energy resources and revenues if they are to put sub-Saharan Africa on a more rapid path to a modern, integrated energy system for all.”

In addition the report states: “Governance indicators are generally weak in sub-Saharan Africa, compared with other parts of the world implying substantial risks arising from policy and regulatory uncertainty, inadequate protection of contracts and property rights, poor-quality administration and the actions of governments that are only weakly accountable to their citizens.”

An annual market ranking of the world’s 100 most attractive power markets from London-based analysis firm Precergy indicates only four sub-Saharan countries in the top 50. South Africa is ranking 42^nd.

Despite sub-Saharan Africa being an increasingly attractive investment option, there are many reasons for the overall low scores, “not least the greater levels of political risk and increased difficulty in doing business,” states Precergy’s report.