By Kim Harrisberg
Wind projects are growing fast, with 724MW of new capacity added in 2020, bringing the total to 6468MW across Africa – equal to taking more than 2 million cars off the road, said the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), which represents the sector.
“Now is the time to urgently scale-up wind power in the region … as a driver of local jobs and investment to power a green economic recovery from the pandemic,” said Emerson Clarke, Africa Task Force Coordinator at the Brussels-based GWEC.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has warned that the continent faces its first recession in 25 years due to output losses caused by COVID-19 and climate change-related droughts, floods, rising seas and food insecurity.
Wind could power Africa's energy demands 250 times over and create jobs lost in the move away from fossil fuels but the continent has only tapped into 0.01% of its potential, wind experts said on Thursday.
Africa urged to embrace wind power to create jobs and go green reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.