Page 192 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 3

CPS1994 Xuan C.

Improving energy access for Africa through
regional integration
Xuan Che
United Nations Statistics Division

Abstract
Access to energy is one of the fundamental rights for all citizens. It plays a
central role in Africa’s development. Regional integration is a fundamental and
irreplaceable factor in Africa’s energy sector, as it helps reduce the risks for
natural and man-made disasters, provides diversity on the types and
geography of energy sources, and boosts national economy and fosters future
growth. Using quantitative evidences and historical data, this study attempted
to explain the effects of regional integration on energy production and access.
It looked at how regional integration improves electricity production of the
countries, investigated the progress made and challenges facing Africa’s
regional power pool initiatives, and provided policy advises on enhancing the
regional market. Then, the effects of regional integration on electricity and
clean cooking fuel accesses were studied. The progress made on the accesses
to these energy sources were identified, and options were given on how to
overcome the existing challenges and shortfalls. The concluding findings and
discussions were provided in the end.

Keywords
Africa, energy statistics, energy access, regional integration, official statistics

1. Introduction
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stipulate that it is one of the
fundamental rights for all citizens to have access to clean, reliable, affordable
and decentralized energy. The access to energy plays a crucial role from
poverty reduction, food security, to health, education, equality, gender and
climate change issues.
Africa has adequate energy resources for all her citizens. It has, however,
remained a big challenge in many African countries to provide universal
energy access. Regional integration among the countries can help
streamlining each country’s energy needs, provides alternatives and diversity
of energy sources, and fuels the economy with future growth. Since oil and
natural gas are concentrated mostly in the North and West Africa, with
hydropower being abundant in East, Central and Southern Africa, creating a
regional network of distribution and trade of energy can benefit all parties,
both the providers and users, among the regions. We believe that regional

181 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9