Hydropower investment in Africa: opportunities and risks
Join us for a discussion on hydropower investment in Africa and the release of a new report ‘An investor’s guide to hydropower in Africa’ by Addleshaw Goddard with support from the International Hydropower Association.
Time: 10.00am – 11.00am GMT (11.00am - 12.00pm BST)
Guest speakers are:
Rory Connor, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard
Wolemi Esan, Partner, Olaniwun Ajayi
Henry Paul Batchi Baldeh, Director of Power Systems Development, African Development Bank (AfDB)
Moises Machava, Executive director, Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa
Dr Judith Plummer Braeckman, Centre for Sustainable Finance, University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
The event will be chaired by Anton-Louis Olivier, CEO, REH Group
Africa has the most acute need for more power of any continent. An estimated 578 million Africans have no ready access to electricity. The United Nations has estimated that Africa's population will double by 2050, amounting to approximately 2.5 billion people with electricity demand expected to triple by 2040. As Africa continues to urbanise, industrialise and become a global economic force, electricity access must improve.
While hydropower is the main renewable electricity resource in Africa with over 38 GW of installed capacity, the continent has the highest untapped potential in the world, with only 11% utilised.
In order to develop this resource, significant investment will be required, particularly from the private sector. However, to date, very little privately funded hydropower investment has taken place. This in part driven by the perceived risk of investing in African electricity markets due to a range of commercial and legal risk matters such as customary land rights, resettlement, political risk and market structures.
This webinar will launch ‘An investor’s guide to hydropower in Africa,’ a publication led by Addleshaw Goddard, with the support of IHA and well-respected law firms across Africa.
The purpose of the guide is to help host governments, private investors, funding parties and in-country procuring entities gain a better understanding of the legal bankability issues which are relevant to the sustainable development of hydropower projects in Africa. It also provides an overview of the legal systems and laws relevant to the hydropower sector of the 10 countries featured.
For queries, please email communications@hydropower.org
