Not long ago renewable power generation was an expensive choice to be subsidised by industrialized governments to signal an intention to shift to clean energy, however today renewable resources are becoming strategic assets for developing countries too, as the global industry grows stronger and the cost of technology falls dramatically. Their potential is particularly evident in Africa where solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass resources are abundant. While it is becoming evident that

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... ewables have a major role to play in the electrification process of many countries in the region-including at small scale and off-grid-several challenges remain when it comes to establishing appropriate regulations, attracting foreign investments, and even sometimes simply setting clear targets. After describing the distribution of resources, this chapter looks at the policy frameworks in place in order to point at possible ways forward. African countries are gifted with a huge-and still untapped-renewable energy potential. Estimates of power generation potential in the continent are 350 GW for hydroelectric, 110 GW for wind, 15 GW for geothermal and a staggering 1000 GW for solar (African Development Bank 2017). Potential for bioenergy is also high, with wood supply from surplus forest estimated at 520 GWh/year (International Renewable Energy Agency 2015). Solar is particularly promising in terms of geographical distribution: albeit with varying potentials, this type of energy could be harnessed virtually everywhere in Africa. This large endowment of renewables is strategic for the continent, and the prospect of large-scale renewable power production may be a real game changer for several countries. While hydropower has been an option for a long time, other renewable solutions became commercially viable quite recently. Wind and solar in particular are now leading large-scale renewable power production across the continent, competing with fossil fuel alternatives also in terms of costs (Chap. 2). In general, while many renewable energy sources can be used to produce electricity and/or heat without any combustion process (e.g. sunlight, wind, hydro, underground heat), others need to be burnt in order to release their energy (bioenergy from organic material, or biomass). While biomass is highly versatile-uses include © The Author(s) 2018 M. Hafner et al., Energy in Africa, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.