Global superpowers are circling as Ghana prepares to build its first nuclear power plant. The small nation is poised for a major uptick in electricity demand over the next few years, and has grand plans to become a net exporter of energy to other nations within the African continent. Ghana plans for nuclear energy to play a significant role in achieving those targets.
At this year’s COP28 United Nations climate conferences, the West African country joined a multinational pledge to triple current levels of nuclear power production capacity by 2050 with the aim of helping the world reach net zero carbon emissions by midcentury. And, for global nuclear power firms, the nascent sector represents a key strategic geopolitical foothold in what will soon be the region with the fastest-growing energy sector on the planet.
Relative to other sub-Saharan African nations, Ghana has a relatively high electricity access rate. Bolstered by strong leadership beginning in the 1990s and continuing to the present day, Ghana’s electrification rate had reached 84% in 2018. However, the country still has a lot of work to do to expand its existing grid and ramp up current power production capacity to meet the future demands of its rapidly expanding population – expected to fully double over the next 33 years – and a fast-developing economy, not to mention the enormous energy needs of its neighboring countries, to which Ghana hopes to export energy in the near future.
By midcentury, one in four people in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa. The region already has the fastest growing population in the world, expected to double between now and 2050. Generating enough energy to meet the needs of that population and the growing and developing economies that will house them without irreparably ballooning the continent’s carbon footprint represents one of the single greatest challenges of the green energy transition.
Nuclear energy could provide a critical stop-gap in helping Africa to ‘leap-frog’ over the traditional next step in economic development – the indiscriminate consumption of cheap and available fossil fuels – straight to a decarbonized electric grid. As a baseload power source that utilizes proven technologies and yields zero carbon emissions, nuclear energy is an extremely attractive option for emerging economies such as Ghana’s that cannot afford to risk energy insecurity at this critical time in their development trajectories.
Indeed, the African nuclear energy industry is likely about to set soar, and global nuclear energy powers want a piece of the action. As it prepares to construct its first ever nuclear power plant, Ghana is considering bids from five of the biggest players in the game: France’s EDF; the United States’ NuScale Power and Regnum Technology Group; China’s National Nuclear Corporation; South Korea’s Kepco and Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Corporation; and Russia’s Rosatom.
There are a number of reasons that these nations are scrambling to ink a deal with Ghana, but it primarily boils down to power and leverage over what is going to be an enormous energy market. Russia wants to establish a dominant position in African nuclear energy in order to keep its economy afloat, as global energy sanctions have kneecapped its fossil fuel exports and left the Kremlin disproportionately dependent on the nuclear sector and its uranium enrichment industry in particular. China has been battling it out with Russia and the U.S. for years now to establish dominance in this market for years now as part of its own ambitions for global energy dominance. Meanwhile, the United States, France, and South Korea are attempting to stay competitive in the market and prevent Beijing or Moscow from gaining too much of a foothold in the critical market to keep some degree of leverage in the hands of the West and its allies.
In light of these dynamics, the ramifications of Ghana’s decision are potentially enormous. The global nuclear energy industry has emerged as a key geopolitical battleground as fission technology regains political traction and public popularity as part of the global clean energy transition. And Africa could, once again, find itself as ground zero of a global resource- and power-grab.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
ADVERTISEMENT
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
- UK Fund Faces Headwinds as Energy Storage Challenges Emerge
- Gulf Oil Producers Invest Heavily in Carbon Capture and Hydrogen
- Construction Costs Remain Elevated Despite Stabilizing Base Metals
