Water and Energy
About 1.4 billion of people world-wide have no access to electricity, roughly half a billion of which lives in Africa. While connection rates in North-African countries and South Africa reach 80 to 90% of the population, they are only 3.5% in Chad and 50 to 60% in Western African countries. Hydropower can help in reducing this undersupply. Hydropower also strategically supplements other renewable energy sources, especially as it provides electricity for peak demand and can be used in pumped storage facilities. Hydropower thus has an important role to play in decarbonising economies.
The Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) expects increased growth rates of renewable energy sources, including hydropower. AEEP already committed to installing an additional 10,000 megawatts of hydropower by 2020 – “taking due consideration of social and environmental issues”. Implementing this aim requires strong political support in order to not impose the environmental and social costs of climate protection and socio-economic development on one societal group only. In particular, investments in hydropower must not lead to additional poverty. Experiences with involuntary resettlement demonstrate that this is a prevalent risk.
This page presents a selection of relevant studies, projects and events.
Team
Publications
Projects
Events
Highlight
Regional energy trading: a new avenue for resolving a regional water dispute?
Scheumann, Waltina / Sahnaz Tigrek (2015)
published on International Journal of Water Governance
Die Fotogalerie zeigt den Coruh/Chorokhi in Georgien, nahe der türkisch-georgischen Grenze, und die Stelle, an der der Fluss vom Georgischen Chorokhi Wasserkraftprojekt aufgestaut werden wird. Weitere Informationen
Highlight
Evolution of Dam Policies. Evidence from the Big Hydropower States
Scheumann, Waltina / Oliver Hensengerth (2014)
Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer