Lighting up a continent

Investors are returning to Africa's power sector, but securing financing remains problematic, writes Martin Clark

AFRICA'S power sector is back on the map. Following a period in which many Western investors quit the continent for safer plays, retrenching in Europe or the US, there are signs of renewed interest; a few blue-chip investors have returned, encouraged by a more mature regulatory and political backdrop. Between 2001 and 2003, big US names such as Cinergy, now part of Duke Energy, and AES ceased investments in the continent's power sector. Although AES maintained a stake in the privatised Cameroon utility, AES Sonel, it halted investment in all new ventures. Others, such as CMS Energy, held on to their projects only to dispose of them recently when the market turned more favourable. A shift is