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Moussa Ka, PhD student and member of YAAC, spoke to us on World Clean Energy Day, 26 January 2025.
Introduction to clean energy
As climate change continues to pose one of the greatest challenges of our time, finding sustainable energy solutions has become more urgent than ever. Unlike fossil fuels, which deplete natural resources and emit harmful pollutants, clean or renewable energy draws on sources that replenish themselves.
The main sources
- Solar — abundant across the Sahel, and increasingly the cheapest new generation available.
- Wind — well suited to coastal corridors, including parts of the Senegalese shoreline.
- Hydro — reliable, but sensitive to the same rainfall variability that climate change is intensifying.
- Biomass — valuable when it uses genuine waste streams rather than competing with food production.
Why it matters here
Energy access is not an abstract question in West Africa. It determines whether a clinic can refrigerate vaccines, whether a student can read after sunset, and whether a farmer can irrigate outside the rainy season.
Clean energy is not only a climate measure. It is an equity measure.