At the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris, industry leaders emphasized the urgent need for Africa to adopt a diversified and flexible energy mix – combining renewables, fossil fuels and off-grid technologies – to meet the continent’s rising electricity demand and avoid deepening power crises.

During the panel, titled Revolutionizing Power Generation in Africa: The Role of Energy Mix and Innovation, panelists stated that Africa’s path to universal electrification hinges on embracing a hybridized, context-specific approach that can deliver both stability and sustainability.

“Energy in Africa needs to be thought of in a long-term view. Renewables are cheap, but they are intermittent and not controllable. It is compatible for fossil fuels to be the baseload [to offset] the intermittency of renewables,” said Jérôme Bertheau, Chief Technology Officer at BW Energy.

Bertheau pointed to the company’s gas-to-power project in Namibia as a model of scalable, market-aligned development. “We have a project in Namibia where we will produce and transport gas from the Kudu field. The project is phased, so we are developing alongside the growth of Namibia. The first step is a 200 MW viable baseload, but we can increase it as the market grows,” he said.

He added that the project is progressing rapidly toward FID: “We have submitted our field development plan and finished our conceptual studies, and are entering a phase of appraising the reservoir more. We believe there is potentially more gas and oil. We are drilling the first well this year, and the second one next year.”

The discussion centered on how to bridge the gap between ambition and practical implementation, particularly in under-electrified regions where national grids are weak and investor confidence hinges on returns and reliability. Panelists stressed that successful models already exist, and that Africa’s energy transition must be guided by both technological and commercial innovation.

“The first step on the ladder is hybridization – we need to introduce more renewables. That is how we offset costs and get more sustainable,” said Christoffer Ek, Director of Decarbonization Services at Wärtsilä Energy, emphasizing that “Hybridization is key to communities in Africa when it comes to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy.”

With the continent’s electricity consumption per capita hovering around 500 kWh per year – a fraction of global averages, according to Silvia Macri, Associate Director at S&P Global Commodity Insights – the stakes are high. Over-reliance on a single energy source is a major contributor to Africa’s frequent power outages and unreliable supply.

“We are seeing a lot of power mixes relying on fossil fuels too heavily, or on one source of power, which is a major risk factor. We have consistent power outages and crises in a lot of markets,” she said, adding, “The power gap is not solved by adding capacity alone.”

Macri pointed to Kenya as a regional success story, where strategic investment in geothermal energy has led to a significant increase in electricity access. “Kenya doubled its electricity access in less than a decade,” said Macri, highlighting that Africa’s broad access to both renewable and fossil resources gives it a unique advantage if the right mix can be struck.