Power Africa -- Power America

This is going to be a long post.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Population Centers of Interest

First, the "definition" of "Sub-Saharan Africa." Whenever I hear someone say "Sub-Saharan Africa" as opposed to simply "Africa" I know I am listening to someone who wants me to think they are smarter than the average bear. Look at the "official" definition of "Sub-Saharan Africa" and you will see what I mean. Except for very, very few countries (including Egypt, Libya, and Morocco), "sub-saharan Africa" is "all" of Africa.

Second, where do all the people in Africa, who need electricity, live? All of Africa was not created equally. South Africa is a modern nation and should be tackling its own problems. East Africa (Kenya and Uganda) is also in pretty good shape; Somalia, North and South Sudan, and Ethiopia are basket cases and can be irnored for the time-being; they won't be using iPads for awhile.

The rest of Africa? My hunch is that most of the African population lies along the coasts, and probably the west coast has the most interest for the United States. Be that as it may, it needs to be fleshed out: exactly what does the President mean by sub-Saharan Africa. For purposes of this discussion, I will be looking at the west coast of Africa from Senegal to Namibia, to include: Senegal,  The Gambia,  Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Congo, Angola, and Namibia.

Back Story

Years ago, I had a most enjoyable experience. I was one of seven crew members on a C-130 sent to Bajul, The Gambia, to provide search and rescue support for NASA shuttle launches. NASA had identified four emergency "landing" locations from Spain to west Africa for the space shuttle if it failed to reach orbit after launch from Cape Canaveral/Kennedy. One of those landing sites was the commercial airport at Banjul, The Gambia.

To provide that support, NASA required us to be in place two days before launch, and to remain there until the shuttle reached orbit. In fact, we took off as soon as the shuttle launched: we were either going to be heading home (England) or we were going to be doing search and rescue over the Atlantic.

You will recall that it was a rare NASA shuttle that launched on time. We often found ourselves holed up in Banjul for days, if not weeks, waiting for a shuttle launch. Yes, we would stay in place for up to three weeks waiting for a launch.

So, we had plenty of free time in the evenings. Rum and coke comes to mind. One night while in the bar, we lost electricity. An American with whom we were talking, not part of our team, got up and disappeared for a few minutes. About 15 minutes later, the lights came back on and the gentleman returned. He told us that electricity to The Gambia -- the entire country of Gambia -- was provided by about four diesel generators. Periodically they "hiccup" or shut down, and someone needs to go out, tap them with a hammer or whatever they do, and get them started again. He was an American contractor and his job was to a) drink rum and coke; and, b) re-start the generators every so often. We were there for about two weeks; if I remember correctly, that was the one and only time he had to fix the generator. Nice work if you can find it.

Three or four generators, back in the 1980's, providing electricity for the entire country of The Gambia.

What's The Quickest Way To Provide Electricity To Africa?

Let's go through the options.

Renewables? Wind, solar? LOL. Let's move on. Get serious.

Nuclear? Ditto. Let's move on. Get serious.

Hydroelectric, in huge dams on the Blue and White Nile Rivers?  I don't think so.

We're getting closer and closer to fossil fuel. Pox on you.

Coal-powered utility plants? A non-starter for several reasons.

That leaves us with natural gas power plants. Nope.

So, where does that leave us? What's the fastest way to get electricity to Africa.

Yup, diesel generators.

Diesel Generators

Logistics: nothing fancy needed; no large towers and transmission lines carrying electricity long distances across Africa. Some lorries to transport the diesel fuel and that's about it. The indigenous population is perfectly suited to manage that task.

Where do the diesel generators come from? Why, GE, of course. Remember, the CEO of GE is/was President Obama's economic guru. This is not rocket science. Remember this comment posted earlier:

Manufacturing may not dominate the U.S. economy any longer, but it is still a canary in the economic coal mine. Weakness can be a harbinger of recession and also equity bear markets.

Diesel fuel? The US does not allow crude oil to be exported (with exceptions) but the US exports lots of refined products including diesel and it's going to be exporting more:

The US has shifted from importing refined oil products like gasoline to exporting over 1 million barrels per day in 2012 and companies are positioning themselves to cash in on the trend.

The US has exported diesel fuel to Europe for years, which makes sense because demand for the fuel is much higher across the Atlantic than domestically, but with expanding domestic crude output and flat or declining US gasoline demand, it appears many more barrels of liquid transportation fuels will be headed to hungry overseas markets in the coming years.

RBN Energy is starting a series on this subject today.

Most of the diesel would be used within a hundred miles of where it could be off-loaded.

A Marshall-like plan, laser-focused on providing electricity to Africa would be a huge win-win for two continents: North America and Africa.

The Interior

While building out the 90% of electricity needs for Africa -- along the west coast -- a small percentage of the $7 billion could go to solar panels to the interior.