About 77% of Africa’s sub-Saharan population lives without access to electricity, according to experts who gathered at the conference entitled “Access to all forms of energy in Africa: What are the solutions.”

Nearly 530 million Africans lack access to electricity, according to United Nations data, and that figure could reach 600 million in 20 years. The situation is especially serious in rural areas where as much as 95 percent of the population can be without electricity.

"The average U.S. citizen uses 350 times more electricity than an Ethiopian citizen," said Claude Mandil, former executive director of the International Energy Agency, whose headquarters hosted the conference in Paris.

The conference highlighted the obstacles to development that the lack of electricity brings. But it also presented individuals and groups trying to alleviate the problem.

These include non-governmental organisations such as one formed by African professionals in France called the African Oil Gas and Renewable Energy Network (AOGREEN) which works to inform African students about job opportunities in the energy sector and to promote the development of sustainable energy.

Experts in the field are saying that the situation could be alleviated by tapping into Africa’s “huge potential” to develop renewable energy sources. Such sources would include hydro power, solar and wind power, but also geothermal power. Geothermal power is energy retrieved from the heat stored in the earth.

About 15% of Kenya’s electricity is currently generated from geothermal power and this could serve as an example to other countries, scientists say. Although solar energy remains the most popular source due to the fact that many African countries receive more than 300 days of sunlight on average.

Christèle Adedjoumon, a Paris-based former oil logistics expert who now heads the Benin Association for Awakening and Development (ABED), believes that solar power and bio-fuels are the way forward for rural Africa, especially if provided in a sustainable way.

But these developments would only be possible if large-scale investments for these technologies are made and that is where international agencies, developed countries and multinational oil companies can help.

AOGREEN collaborates closely with the Association for the Development of Energy in Africa (ADEA), another Paris-based organisation that works with companies, governments and experts to seek solutions to the continent's energy problems. The two groups co-organised the conference.