1. For Immediate Release
5th October 2015
IRENA Report highlights Africa’s renewable potential
Aberystwyth, Wales— 5th October 2015 — Africa could be producing nearly one quarter
of its total energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030, a report published today by the
International Renewable Energy Agency suggests.
“Africa … has a unique opportunity to pursue renewable energy development as a basis
for long-term development,” Adnan Amin, Director-General of IRENA, outlined in the report,
entitled Africa 2030: Roadmap for a Renewable Energy Future. Mr. Amin discussed the
longitudinal potential posed by renewable energy sources in meeting Africa’s energy demands.
Powerful potential
Split into three main sections, the report discussed the technologies available in seven
major areas of renewable energy production: in solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, wood
fuel, biomass residue and liquid biofuels. In all of these areas, the report outlined possible
scaling-up of technology and capacity: for example, solar power plants are being developed on
the continent with a total output of twenty gigawatts.
“The abundance and high quality of renewable energy resources render renewables
economically competitive,” the authors said. Reduced costs and the advance of new technology
will assist with problems of consistent supply. Methods of accelerating uptake and making the
continent more attractive to investors were also discussed.

2. Climate change and the future
The Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change has
highlighted “unprecedented” changes in the climate system in recent decades. A reliance on
fossil fuel production is often cited as a contribution to these climatic changes. The IRENA
report suggests that power generation via renewable energy sources could reduce levels of
carbon dioxide emissions throughout Africa by more than 310 megatonnes in fifteen years.
A copy of the report is available from
http://www.irena.org/menu/index.aspx?mnu=Subcat&PriMenuID=36&CatID=141&SubcatID=6
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Contact:
James Rowen, Email: jar43@aber.ac.uk
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University