Africa is the world’s fastest-growing continent, and with this has come the need for more power to drive economic growth. However, presently, Africa suffers a severe power deficit that has emerged as the greatest threat to meeting its economic growth in the future. An African Development Bank report estimates that only 26% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population has access to electricity and for those who do have, the spectrum of power outages is all too common resulting in a production loss of 12.5% Diesel power offers a stopgap as standby power or as prime power in more remote areas, and the difference in the economic development gains is like the difference between night and day. During power outages, emergency backup electrical generators powered by diesel engines provide reliable, immediate and full strength electric power. Admittedly loss of power does not only occur due to power deficits but it can also be caused by natural disasters but with society’s reliance on power to operate vital technological systems such as can be found in hospitals or in other essential utilities, the need for backup power becomes all the more criticalDiesel powered generators are favored in buildings and other facilities because compared to other technologies they have quick response time and are able to start and absorb a full electrical load within ten seconds of grid power failure. Even where renewable sources such as wind or solar are preferred, the diesel-powered generator still comes in handy as a reliable backup.
