Solar power - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

South Africans are opting to go off-grid: how they’re being helped, and hindered, in their efforts

ESKOM, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, struggles to generate and supply a stable flow of electricity to meet demand. In 2023, there were times when households and businesses had no power for up to 11 hours a day. Eskom has warned that load shedding will be worse in 2024. GERMARIÉ VILJOEN, Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, North-West University, North-West University FELIX DUBE, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria The result is that many South Africans are choosing to end or reduce their dependence on the…

May

2023

By NOAH BROWNING

Solar power due to overtake oil production investment for first time -IEA

BUSINESS

INVESTMENT in clean energy will extend its lead over spending on fossil fuels in 2023, the International Energy Agency said, with solar projects expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time. Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report. Around 90% of that clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China, however, highlighting the global divide between rich and poor countries as fossil fuel investment is still double the levels needed to…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

DRC agrees $100 mln solar-hybrid power deal for three cities

AFRICITIES

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo has signed a $100 million solar-hybrid power deal with a consortium led by Gridworks, to provide electricity to half a million people across three cities that have no grid connection. Solar-hybrid systems combine solar power with another electricity-generating energy source. For this 22-year concession, the backup power source will be diesel, Gridworks said. Less than 10% of Congo's roughly 90 million people have reliable access to electricity. The consortium is led by Gridworks, which is owned and financed by the British development finance institution CDC Group, and includes French utility company Eranove and Spanish power developer…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Solar and wind power could break the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam deadlock

ENVIRONMENT

FOR several years, political tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been escalating in a conflict over the near-complete Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The GERD is Africa’s largest hydropower plant. It dams the Blue Nile river coming from Ethiopia’s highlands just before it crosses into Sudan where, after merging with the White Nile, it continues northwards to Egypt. SEBASTIAN STERL, Researcher, Energy & Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ethiopia needs GERD’s electricity to lift millions of citizens out of poverty. But Egypt is concerned by GERD’s consequences for its agriculture, which depends completely on Nile water. Sudan, meanwhile, sees both…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Solar technologies can speed up vaccine rollout in Africa. Here’s how

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

THER'S hope that some industrialised countries will achieve near-universal vaccination against COVID-19 in the coming months. Yet the effort to vaccinate even the most essential workers in developing countries has only just begun. By current estimates, achieving herd immunity (to current strains) will require at least 75% of the world’s population to be vaccinated. Some developing countries haven’t reached that level of coverage even for common vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and polio. CYRUS SINAI, PhD student, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ROB FETTER, Senior Policy Associate, Energy Access Project, Duke University Many low-income countries will…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Solar beats salt, bringing clean water to coastal Kenyans

ENVIRONMENT

BENSON RIOBA MIRIAM Bahero Musa sat on a yellow 20-litre jerrycan, a smaller white one in her hand, as she lined up with 20 other women to collect water at the Kiunga desalination plant on Kenya's coast. The solar-powered water farm converts salty seawater to clean water for drinking and washing. "Water is scarce in the area," said Musa, adding that local people are pretty much used to shortages. "We only get a temporary reprieve during rainy seasons," she added. The plant in Lamu County, near the border with Somalia, about 470 km (292 miles) east of Nairobi, is fitted…