The quest to power sub-Saharan Africa
As soon as reporter Gabrielle Nina Mitch began her reporting trip, the lights went out. “No one had any idea when power would be restored, so I had to turn off my computer in order to conserve the battery, and power my phone from the computer,” she says.
Mitch was travelling in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern mining region — an area where natural resources are abundant but electricity is scarce — to report on the connections between mining companies and local energy production. She is one of five journalists investigating energy poverty and potential solutions in sub-Saharan Africa for this year’s Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship.
Why sub-Saharan Africa? More than 620 million people there live without electricity — it’s the most energy-poor region in the world. But it’s also a place where a lot of innovation is happening. In the past decade, sub-Saharan Africa’s economy has expanded rapidly and energy use has risen by 45 per cent. Fast-forward to 2040: almost one billion people are projected to gain access to energy across the region. At the same time, the population is increasing. If solutions aren’t found, 530 million people are expected to be without electricity access by 2040, especially those living in the region’s rural areas.
CIFOR