Africa holds enormous resources, which can supply the world with energy from diversified energy sources. With a population exceeding one billion people, and with an estimated combined economy of $1.5 trillion, huge opportunities lie in wait for investors, developers and operators across the renewable energy market.

It is self-evident that schools, health facilities, agriculture, and infrastructure require electricity. It is also well-documented that countries with access to electricity at 80% or more lie in the high- or upper middle-income economy; whereas nearly all countries with access ratios below 80% are low-income economies.

Sub-Saharan Africa is rich in energy resources, but is starved of electricity. Nigeria is illustrative of the continent’s problem: a lower middle-income economy with immense energy resources – Nigeria has 73 million people without access to electricity. Even in South Africa, an upper middle-income economy, eight million people live without electricity.

However, investors are cognisant of the continent’s rich endowment of energy resources, where its coal (3.6%), natural gas (7.5%), and oil (7.6%) represent substantial global reserves. Its renewable energy resources are diverse, unevenly distributed and hold enormous potential. Solar is almost unlimited (10TW) and there are abundant hydro (350GW), wind (110GW) and geothermal (15GW) energy sources. In sub-Saharan Africa there are undiscovered, but technically recoverable, energy resources estimated at about 115.34 billion barrels of oil and 21.05 trillion cubic metres of gas. With such vast resources open to development, Elsewedy Electric has taken stock of sector reforms and government programmes that are set to facilitate investment in African countries. Here follows a snapshot of 13 countries to put on your watch list.

Read more on Esi-Africa.com