Nuclear solution for Africa's energy challenges

"Africa has essentially skipped over the second and third industrial revolutions. While Africa certainly cannot afford to miss the fourth industrial revolution, it should also be focusing its attention on beneficiating the vast resources under its soils. Beneficiation and industrialisation, however, require vast amounts of reliable, affordable and clean energy," said Ryan Collyer, CEO of Rosatom Central and Southern Africa at the World Energy Council session, as part of the Africa Energy Indaba.

Ryan Collyer, CEO, Rosatom, Central and Southern Africa

International energy agencies and investment funds to be cognisant of the long-term goals of developing nations and acknowledge that many of the top performers according to the World Energy Trilemma index, have a combination of both nuclear and renewable resources.

Two things are needed to address these challenges. Firstly, good policy needs to be put in place and it needs to be implemented. Secondly, comfortable environments for private investments need to be fostered, Collyer said. “When you introduce policy and legislation that make power purchase agreements (PPAs) and private public partnerships (PPPs) possible, reliable and straightforward, you create environments where we can now bring private investments in and private investments will push things forward.”