IRENA leading clean energy initiative in Africa

Nineteen countries have committed to developing the Africa Clean Energy Corridor to help scale up renewable energy applications in the face of rising energy demand.

The initiative is led by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), stakeholders believe a regional approach can attract the most investment and optimise the renewable energy mix.

The corridor will span eastern Africa, where transmission infrastructure is being built to meet growing energy demand.

Ethiopia currently hosts the continent's largest wind farm and has plans for 800 megawatts of wind and 1 gigawatt of geothermal. The Corbetti Project is a new model for developing large-scale power projects in Africa and is part of the Power Africa initiative that President Obama announced last summer.

IRENA will facilitate the large-scale, transborder initiative by identifying renewable energy development zones, facilitating government planning so renewables have a bigger share of the energy mix, fostering new financing models and investment frameworks,  and leading public information campaigns.

According to IRENA, demand for electricity is expected to triple in Southern Africa and quadruple in Eastern Africa over the next 25 years, making the region's current dependence on fossil fuels increasingly unsustainable both economically and environmentally.

Eighty per cent of Southern Africa's energy comes from coal, which will need to expand without the growth of renewables because demand is growing at 4 per cent a year. East Africa relies on natural gas for 60 percent of electricity, with demand rising 6 per cent a year.

Last year, South Africa was one of 10 countries that formed the Renewable Energy Club, which is managed by IRENA.