Africa Energy Forum 2010

The AEF programme examines how environmental concerns, development goals, and power supply interlink, and how to achieve a positive outcome from this interdependence. A number of factors point to hydropower's growing importance. The increasing pressure of consumers' demand for clean and affordable power is another feature that will be discussed. African consumers increasingly require power and will find solutions if the state fails to provide it. A number of African countries have achieved impressive growth rates over recent years despite stagnation in the output of power utilities. Individual, temporary and captive power have filled the gap at a cost above the utility tariffs but which is still worth paying. Reliability is a valuable and, in some cases, essential attribute.