The African utility week will be held from May 14 to 16, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa. The event will bring together energy and water professionals and will mobilise human, material and financial resources to develop the two sectors.

The 19th edition of the African utility week will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from the 16th to the 19th of May 2019. The forum is considered by its organisers as the main meeting and sharing place for African professionals in the electricity, energy and water sectors. It will bring together more than 10,000 professional actors to find the keys to improving African performance in energy and water production. The Cape Town meeting will also give the decision makers the opportunity to meet with some 350 investors. The aim for the organisers of this exhibition is to help participants find solutions, generate business and above all connect to the energy markets and showcase their expertise in efficient electricity supply. As for water, it is a strategy that will make it possible to develop these two sectors in Africa, which are beginning to interconnect. Solar energy is now used to pump or desalinate water in a decentralised way, while dams are used to produce electricity and store water, but also as a means of storing electricity to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energies….

The water and energy market in Africa, promising despite the challenges
Access to safe drinking water remains a major problem in Africa. Nearly 300 million people are deprived of access to the precious resource. A study published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveals that 19 large areas in the world are under high water stress and several African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, South Africa and others in West and East Africa are the victims. In the same vein, a report published in 2017 by UNICEF and WHO points out that nearly 263 million people worldwide have to walk more than 30 minutes to fetch water, and more than half of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet Africa has more than 5000 billion cubic metres of water in its groundwater, not to mention the major river systems of sub-Saharan Africa. A real potential that must be exploited, especially since Africa will experience an increase in its population over the next 20 years equivalent to that of Europe today.

On the other hand, the African energy sector already seems to be on the right track. According to the International Energy Agency, the rate of access to electricity in Africa, which is currently 43%, is expected to increase to 73% by 2040. A progress that could be facilitated by renewable energies, to which several African States are increasingly turning. The sun world map shows that Africa receives much more sunshine during the year than any other continent on earth. Similarly, all the sunniest territories are in Africa. Those are natural arrangements that the organisers of the African Utility Week wish to highlight in order to contribute to the continent’s development.

Luchelle Feukeng

Source: Afrik21.africa