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Is Africa's future hydropower cost-optimal?

Even so, hydropower faces growing threats. Climate change menaces the rivers that turn dams; moreover, hydro faces economic competition from ever cheaper solar and wind power. The result, researchers predicted in the journal Science on 11 August, is that over one-third of Africa’s potential future hydro isn’t cost-optimal.

Is hydropower a threat to Africa?

Africa, home to four of the world’s 15 largest river drainage basins—the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, and the Zambezi—has plenty of opportunity to build on them. Even so, hydropower faces growing threats. Climate change menaces the rivers that turn dams; moreover, hydro faces economic competition from ever cheaper solar and wind power.

Can solar and wind take over sub-Saharan Africa?

Today, energy analysts divide sub-Saharan Africa into four “power pools” —the largest of them in the south, accounting for most of the region’s power generation alone. Strengthening these power pools and binding them more tightly together may allow solar and wind to take over when hydro falters, and vice versa.

Why is the southern African region a conflict based on hydropower?

The Southern African region epitomizes the conflicts arising from the significant expansion of hydropower and the potential tradeoffs in developing wind and solar projects.