Electricity

Abstract

Africa has the lowest electricity access rate in the world today. About six hundred million of its estimated 1.4 billion population (or 43 percent) are still waiting to experience reliable electricity supply, according to a recent estimate. Yet, unlike other forms of Western technological inventions, such as in communications (telegraph or the telephone) or rail transportation, historians have demonstrated that the infrastructure of large-scale electricity production made its way to Africa not long after it was developed in Europe and the United States. Electricity became a tool for modern life during the late 1870s through the work of scientists, notably Thomas Edison, who invented the incandescent bulb. By 1882, the mining city of Kimberly in South Africa had become the first African municipal area to have electric lights. Kimberly’s coal-fired central power station was also the second in the world (after Pearl Street Station, New York). Ethiopia reportedly had its first electricity generator, powered by diesel, as a gift from the German government to the emperor in the 1890s; while in Nigeria, electricity supply commenced in Lagos in 1898. In nearly all of Africa, the electrification timeline was intertwined with European colonialism. The main sites of electricity consumption during the years before the Second World War were the mines and cities where the European and African political and economic elite resided. As a result, the motives of colonial investments have been debated among scholars, and the main issues have ranged from economic exploitation to racial discrimination. The 1940s was the era of colonial development, and electricity began to gain increasing prominence in the industrial policy deliberations within the colonies. As African states approached independence, nationalists also imagined hydroelectric dams as indispensable for economic growth. Despite the optimism and grand strategies of the 1950s and 1960s, Africa’s electricity consumption per capita remains the lowest rate of any world region. African governments and international financial institutions have invested billions to increase supply capacity. However, allegations of public-sector corruption and mismanagement are prevalent. The national grid frequently collapses, load shedding is endemic, and millions of Africans often fall back on small generators. Global dialogues on climate change have also spurned an interest in exploring green alternatives, particularly solar energy, as the future of electrification in Africa.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1093/obo/9780199846733-0242

Journal

African Studies

Year

2025