Africa represents one of the world’s most significant opportunities for renewable energy transformation. As mining operations seek sustainable alternatives and infrastructure development accelerates across the continent, the intersection of commercial opportunity and environmental impact has never been more compelling. To understand how WElink is positioning itself in this dynamic market, WE spoke with our Commercial Officer for Africa, Roth Watson about his recent travels, market insights, and the immense potential he sees across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Let’s start with your current role. Could you tell us a bit about your past experience, your position at WElink and what your key responsibilities are within the Africa market context?
I formally started with WElink in January of this year as the Commercial Officer for Africa. The primary role is to concentrate on building out a team to focus deeply on markets in the Sub Saharan Africa region. My previous experience, which stems from an entrepreneurial background, can be summarised as per below:
- Commercial director for WElink Energy Africa region
- 18 years of experience in the renewable energy sector in Sub Saharan Africa
- Founded one of South Africa’s market leading solar EPC’s
- Co-founder of a carbon credit and carbon trading consultancy that has over one hundred million tons of carbon assets under development and at various stages of issuance
- Country manager for one of Europe’s largest solar EPC’s, namely SolarTotal
- Country manager of a Dutch natural gas company, namely OneLng
- Advisory board member for Sub Saharan Africa micro grid operator
- Seed capital investor into a market leading energy efficiency and solar power company
- Seed capital investor into a Bio Jet Fuel start up
- Member of a project disposal team who facilitated the successful sale of a 140MW wind farm in South Africa
You’ve just spent the past two weeks travelling across several African countries. What are the biggest insights or takeaways from your journey so far?
The continent is vast with immense opportunities specifically in the utility micro grid space.
How would you describe the current state of the renewable energy sector in Africa, especially as it intersects with industries like mining and infrastructure development?
The market is massively underdeveloped with only a few players working hard across the continent in developing large scale micro grid projects.
From a strategic standpoint, what makes Africa a compelling region for WElink’s investment and development ambitions?
Projects are large, and so are the financial returns if the risks are managed correctly. Five solar and BESS projects in various stages of development could quite easily be a billion dollar development portfolio.
What are some of the key challenges or barriers you’ve observed on the ground that might hinder large-scale renewable energy deployment in Africa?
The key issue is always the quality of the off taker of the energy supply agreement i.e. strong balance, multinational, etc. The other key issue is the ability to settle payments off shore in Euro’s of Dollars. From an implementation standpoint, a lot of countries have failing road and rail infrastructure so the logistics around project execution can be challenging, but all are still manageable.
The mining sector is often viewed as both a challenge and a catalyst for Africa’s growth. How do you see renewable energy transforming this sector over the next decade?
Access to energy is critical for mining. To date, mines use diesel generators for rapid deployment of energy generation however the cost of diesel excluding the maintenance of the generator power plants, are 3 times more expensive than Solar and BESS. As Solar and BESS becomes cheaper due to the downward trajectory of lithium prices, access to cheaper greener energy becomes a massive driver to reduce miners’ operating costs and therefore increasing shareholder value from the bottom-line perspective.
What personally excites you most about Africa right now – whether it’s a country, a project, or a larger macro trend?
The impact one can make on people and large-scale industry when integrating renewables into one’s way of life, I think for me is a massive driver. WE can now offer a product that is more cost effective than classic forms of energy at a lower price point with a longer shelf life, aligning triple bottom line reporting whilst limiting the impact on our environment.
Lastly, for global investors watching Africa from the outside, what would you say to them? Why is now the time to be bullish on Africa’s energy and infrastructure transformation?
Projects are large and in abundance and provide really good returns to investors who are getting into the space. In Europe a Solar PV farm will generate 6-8% returns. In Africa one can get a 4 times the ROI of Europe with minimal downside risk if one cherry picks the right project with the right client.
