Frost & Sullivan: Africa’s large-scale wind turbine market set for growth

Growth consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan has forecasted that the African large-scale turbine market will see its revenues increase to US$424.3m a year by 2015, a significant increase over the US$148.4m earned in 2008.

The forecast is primarily based on wind turbines of 600kW, 660-850kW and units above 850kW in rated output.

Although the consultancy admits that wind power has yet to make a significant contribution to power generation on the African continent, it maintains that there is now greater public pressure to make investments in renewable energy.

“The success of the wind power markets in Europe and the US has convinced many governments that wind power can assist in alleviating some of the power shortages in the continent,” energy analyst Sipha Ndawonde added. Wind power projects of 120-300MW have been announced in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Africa and interest in the sector is growing in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. However, Ndawonde notes that in many African countries, power generation remains the business of monopoly.

“Moreover, there are other restraints such as aging infrastructure, over-reliance on single feedstocks for power generation, and the lack of capital for electrical infrastructure refurbishment. This has resulted in many countries failing to meet the rising electricity demand,” he added (Engineering News)