If that sounds like a ridiculous oversimplification. It is. It’s also how we have largely dumbed down the renewable energy conversation in Africa.
Of course, green energy startups in Africa do more than just sell solar-powered lanterns. Off-grid solutions are for the few well-funded, and brave true adventurers, in a space that is paralyzed, thanks to state capture and thankless politicized bureaucracy.
Some parts of Africa are legendary in this regard. Almost everyone has war stories of endless hot humid and dark nights. I currently live in one of these mythological places, you can probably guess where.
This is a first in a 3-part essay on sustainability, energy, and capital in Africa. Frankly, in the context of the ongoing mini energy crisis in the EU, this is a good time to evaluate and rethink what the future of energy is for Africa.
I started building a foundation for some of the thoughts in this piece sometime in June, but new work happened. However, a recent tweet by Mira Mehta (@tomatojos), and a response from Victor Asemota inspired me to take a swing at this and just Nike-it. I am hopeful that it will inspire some thinking at a higher level, or at least spark a deeper conversation on what sustainability really means for Africa?.
Going left and below the y-axis.
Africa is the only continent where the number of people living without access to electricity is increasing. And the pandemic, or governments’ responses, or both, added 13 million more individuals to that number. That is 2.7 million households, or 2x the number of households in Los Angeles, California.1 It also affected the operations of decentralized or off-grid energy startups in Africa.
African innovation is still “mobile phone” led. As digital adoption expands to every part of the African economy, driven by mobile technology infrastructure, we will need and demand significantly more energy. Like Ijenichor2 we will demand more, better, and faster.
When the petrol generator at home breaks down, and there is no power, my father drops his phone battery off to charge at a small “charging point” kiosk until he needs to use it.
My father, the TomatoJos farm and processing facility, and the charging point kiosk want electricity. Everyone wants electricity.
And in the digital economy, wherever demand leads, supply will find profit.
The energy of technology, the technology of energy.
When Thomas Newcomen built the first commercially viable steam engine in 1712, he may not have known how much of an impact his bulky engine would change the world. I can argue that his machine, later modified by James Watt ushered in the Industrial Revolution 50 years later.
Newcomen was ironically a tradesman. His machine would go on to disrupt life for the tradesmen of Europe and create The Industrialists, a new human sub-species.
What Newcomen, the Industrial Revolution, and coal illustrate is how both the technology of energy (in this case, his engine), and the energy of technology (coal) can radically shape culture and impact history.
Throughout human history, machines and technology are only important as the cultural changes they inspire. The same principle will apply to green technology businesses. Renewable energy startups are not selling renewable technology. They should not sell renewable technology. They are selling sustainability and a new way of thinking about resources. Any startup that falls short of that will ultimately flounder.
Energy technology shapes societies. Cheap British coal, fueled colonial adventurism. Post-war American consumerism gave birth to the petro-dollar and the petro-dollar made America the ultimate consumer society, and the modern cultural force it is today. Whoever defines what sustainable living means. The historical constant from the stone-age discovery of fire is that energy shapes technology and both combine to shape human culture.
Sustainability in commercially viable sachets.
By designing for, and selling sustainability as a core cultural product of African innovation, our “energy of technology” can beat the environmental curve of the rest of the globe.
Take Kunja for example, a small village in Malawi, young women and children walked up to 5km to fetch water from the nearest hand-pumped pipe. It was that, or drink contaminated water from a shallow well and get cholera. Almost every surviving child had once caught cholera.
That is until a new solar-powered pump was installed near the village primary school. Now, for 10 kwacha, about 55 cents, villagers can get clean water to drink and cook with. The project is community-owned and operated and generates 40,000 kwacha ($2,200) every month. They want to start a garden irrigated by the same pump, so they can purchase parts that inevitably wear out and earn even more.
“During the drought, the committee gave the poorest families credit to buy water. They also educate local people on good sanitation and hygiene practices. There is a real sense of ownership in the community, and people proudly talk about ‘our pump’.”3
Instead of simply selling solar, wind, and other renewables, Africa’s cleantech startups should understand that they are not simply providing new energy sources. They are providing an alternative lifestyle.
Why does mama want a solar lantern? And why will the entire village want solar-powered water pumps?
It’s not as if these energy startups do not already do this. They sell sustainability, but mostly only when pitching to VCs, or grant organizations. The Kunja project was installed by UNICEF and other non-profit partners. Much of the work on “sustainability” as a concept is.
This is why the young man who buys a cheap solar lamp will dump it by the roadside if it breaks down “beyond repair.” That renewable-energy product then goes to a landfill where it will be burnt and contribute to the problem it is trying to solve.
Besides renewables, who is selling sustainability in Africa?
This is the first of three-part series on sustainability in Africa, energy technology, and capital in the new section on Money Myths Africa. I want to talk to people building in this space. Please reach out if that is you. Email: signorabraham[at]gmail.com
The Covid-19 crisis is reversing progress on energy access in Africa. https://www.iea.org/articles/the-covid-19-crisis-is-reversing-progress-on-energy-access-in-africa. Accessed October 11, 2021.
Ijenichor is a snake-like mythological creature that features in West African fables. It is always demanding more food and never gets satisfied.
Andrew Brown, UNICEF, “Solar power keeps the water flowing in Malawi” Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.unicef.org/stories/solar-power-keeps-water-flowing-malawi