Opportunities, Barriers and Issues with Renewable Energy Development in Africa: a Comprehensible Review

Purpose of Review Renewable energy (RE) can play a critical role in sustainable development in Africa. We conducted a focused literature review on articles discussing the conditions of deployment of renewable energy resources in Africa, with the goal to understand the latest research trends, questions and issues on this topic. Our search period is limited to 2013–early 2018. The review did not attempt to provide an exhaustive analysis but rather to provide a snapshot of pertinent questions to distil specific issues. Recent Findings The thematic analysis of the literature revealed the following trends: the success of RE in the region has been limited by a combination of factors which include poor institutional framework and infrastructure, high initial capital costs, weak dissemination strategies, lack of skilled manpower, poor baseline information and weak maintenance service. Summary Future solutions to deploy RE in Africa and bridge the financing gap will require renewed efforts in current approaches as well as new approaches.