To meet the needs of a growing population in a manner that is socially equitable, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable, Africa's electricity sector will require a major transformation (1). It has already undergone some important changes over the past decade. Efforts to expand access to electricity have proceeded at a slightly faster pace than anticipated 10 years ago. In parallel, the deployment of renewable energy technologies has progressed apace, despite new discoveries of natural gas across the continent and favored by the volatility of oil prices. Nonetheless, the expansion and modernization of Africa's electricity sector need heightened efforts, as evidenced by current electrification rates, generation-capacity levels, and security-of-supply indicators. We identify a suite of actions that, if implemented, would put Africa's electricity sector on track to sharply increase electrification rates across the continent while securing long-term access to affordable cleaner energy, and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and emissions of local-air pollutants (see the figure) (2).

为了以社会公平、经济可行和环境可持续的方式满足不断增长的人口的需求，非洲的电力部门将需要进行重大转型（1）。在过去的十年中，它已经发生了一些重要的变化。扩大电力供应的努力比 10 年前的预期略快。与此同时，尽管非洲大陆发现了新的天然气并受到油价波动的青睐，但可再生能源技术的部署也在迅速推进。尽管如此，非洲电力部门的扩张和现代化需要加倍努力，目前的电气化率、发电能力水平和供应安全指标都证明了这一点。我们确定了一系列行动，如果实施，将使非洲电力部门走上正轨，大幅提高整个非洲大陆的电气化率，同时确保长期获得负担得起的清洁能源，2）。