Photo: Rob McDougall (flickr)

Access to cheap energy underpins modern societies. Finding enough to fuel industrialized economies and pull developing countries out of poverty without overheating the climate is a central challenge of the 21st century. — Michael Wines, New York Times

Sub-Saharan Africa is perilously close to an energy crisis.

Massive drought across Kenya and Ethiopia has slowed hydropower production to a trickle. Rickety electrical infrastructure in South Africa and elsewhere has led to huge rolling blackouts expected to go on for years in some regions, according to the International Herald Tribune. The World Bank says Africa's "lack of reliable power has already begun to hamper the region's development." The worst-hit African economies have seen economic growth slow by more than two percent.

Energy shortages impact a broad array of activities in these countries. In Uganda, for instance, power shortages are causing gas stations to run low on diesel. The environment suffers as well. For the 80 percent of sub-Saharan Africans who lack electricity, Inter Press Service News Agency says:

The destruction of natural vegetation could lead to desertification when there are no water catchment systems to feed rivers and streams. And when there is no water, the population in such an area suffers in many ways. They cannot plant crops and their animals die.

Solutions to the energy crisis still seem far off. India and China have begun funding new power generating facilities — in one instance providing Zambia's energy producer, Zesco, with $1.2 billion for upgrades and new capacity creation. But the sheer size of the problem suggests a multinational approach. "The best answer, most experts consulted agree, would be for nations to cooperate on regional power solutions," the New York Times reports. "One or two large regional plants, they say, could supply power more cheaply and efficiently than dozens of smaller ones."