Nigeria and other Africa countries are now faced with the urgent need for proactive actions on cleaner energy as an emerging energy economy is set to create $27 trillion market opportunities for manufacturers across the world by 2050.
This is coming as the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) raised serious concerns over the continent’s growing population, the demand for energy and the infrastructure required to store and distribute cleaner energy products.
Speaking at the 2022 ARDA Virtual Storage and Distribution workshop with the theme of ‘Reducing Carbon Footprint of Africa’s Storage and Distribution Supply Chain,’ the International Energy Agency (IEA) and CITAC Africa were also concerned about projected growing demand on the continent, lack of refining capacity, inability to diversify economies as well as the rising emissions from major African oil and natural gas producers, especially in the area of gas flaring.
Tae-Yoon Kim, an expert at IEA, who spoke on ‘Africa’s Road to Net-Zero Emissions,’ during the virtual event, said Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan Africa countries provide a significant share of the world’s mineral resources that are critical to clean energy technologies.
According to him, the explosive growth in clean energy deployment over the next decades could create a market opportunity for manufacturers of key equipment worth a cumulative $27 trillion globally through to 2050.
Fuel cells, electrolysers, battery packs, wind turbines and solar PV modules, expected from solid minerals like copper, cobalt, manganese, graphite, platinum, chromium, bauxite and others would, according to him, spur cleaner energy technologies and a new industry for Africa.
Kim noted that Africa’s expansive land and abundant natural resources provide the potential for the production of low-carbon hydrogen from renewables cost-effectively.
Stating that the high share of imported used cars in most African countries results in poor fuel economy and limits the scope for reducing emissions in the medium term, Kim said: “Without rapid progress on economic diversification, global energy transitions are set to take a heavy toll on the export revenues of key producers.”
Speaking on the projected exponential growth in population, Executive Secretary, ARDA, Anibor Kragha noted that fossil fuels demand and products imports would grow over the next two decades in Africa alongside major urban population growth which could result in increased pollution.
Stressing the need for sustainable transition to cleaner fuels as imperative to addressing public health issues, Kragha said coordinated storage and distribution investments were required to deliver Africa’s Energy Transition plan.
With growing demand for products, Kragha noted that African countries must urgently prioritise storage and distribution infrastructure, adding that the continent’s existing capacity and hinterland supply routes are grossly limited.
Coming at a time that the organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is investing in the Nigeria – Morocco gas pipeline, Kragha stated that there was need for the continent to invest in regional and pan-African oil and product pipelines.
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He decried that Africa has only six countries with crude oil pipelines, eight with products pipelines and just six countries have both crude oil and product pipelines.
Kragha also said “Deep water ports in Africa will reduce congestion and shipping costs,” noting that imitations in port infrastructure increase congestion; fuel costs as minimum port draft of 14 meters could save $ 15 per metric ton of imported product.
Elitsa Georgieva, executive director, CITAC, noted that the inability for Africa to meet half of its demand for Liquified Petroleum Gas, gasoline jet A1 fuel, kerosene, gasoil, fuel oil and others locally amidst growing population remained worrisome.
Georgieva noted that while technologies like electricity, biofuels like ethanol, compressed biomass pellets, bio gas digesters are yet to be developed and proven at scale for cooking, LPG remained an existing viable solution in the transition to fully renewable and emissions-free energy solutions.
According to her, renewable bioLPG, when combined with innovative efficiency technologies such as Micro CHP, fuel cells, hybrid heat pumps or when used to support hybrid renewable energy systems will result in near-zero emissions.
Georgieva said storage and distribution players on the continent must find access to investment and financing that target cleaner transport and cooking fuels and associated distribution infrastructure.
She said clean Development Mechanism (CDM) − Certified emission reduction (CER) credits, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, technology though still development stage are critical for players in the sector.
Georgieva however stated that “Africa cannot afford to make the technological jump to replace cooking and transport fuels with renewables now but can adopt proven, cost-effective renewables technology later.”
According to her, across Africa, there was no single solution for the mitigation of climate change, adding that each country is different and each would use a different combination of solutions on their journey to net-zero.
