Across the African continent, the policy debate is shifting from basic electrification towards grid interconnection and industrial support — and a high-level conference session next year will place that transition at its centre.
The Power Africa Today conference, to be held during African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, from 12 to 16 October, will host a senior panel session entitled ‘Powering African Industries: Operations, Productivity and Economic Competitiveness’. The session reflects a growing recognition that electricity is a decisive factor in industrial performance, productivity and long-term development across African economies.
More than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity, yet the emerging policy priority is ensuring that interconnected grids are capable of supporting manufacturing, mineral processing and large-scale digital industries — not merely achieving household connection targets.
African businesses currently bear an estimated US$30 billion to US$50 billion in annual costs attributable to unreliable power grids and diesel-based energy generation. This structural inefficiency has become a central obstacle to competitiveness, prompting governments and investors to prioritise stable baseload power, transmission expansion and diversified generation portfolios designed to reduce operational risk and long-term production costs.
One of the conference’s primary areas of focus will be downstream mineral beneficiation, where energy availability directly determines value capture. Africa holds an estimated US$5 trillion in critical mineral reserves, yet much of that output has historically been exported in raw form. Countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia are now investing in energy-linked processing corridors to retain value through local refining and smelting.
The session will also highlight the rapid growth of digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence-driven industries, which require uninterrupted, high-density power loads. Data centres, cloud computing systems and digital supply chains are clustering around stable electricity grids, creating new competitiveness hubs that are integrating African economies into global digital trade networks and services economies.
A further dimension of the debate is the expansion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is driving the development of regional industrial hubs rather than fragmented national systems. These integrated value chains depend on cross-border transmission infrastructure, enabling industrial clusters to serve entire regional markets rather than isolated domestic demand.
The panel will bring together policymakers, utilities, investors and industrial operators with a focus on three pillars: energy infrastructure expansion, local content development and innovative energy solutions. The overarching objective is to translate Africa’s energy potential into measurable productivity gains, lower operating costs, stronger national industries and sustained long-term economic competitiveness.
Source: Mercado / Original article: https://mercado.co.ao/conferencia-power-africa-today-com-enfase-no-papel-da-energia-enquanto-reforco-da-competitividade-industrial/
