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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Youre also forgetting another component which is that the instrastructure gets torn down or stolen because it has market value. The replacement, maintenance, and security of wired grids is likely higher.
Why would infrastructure get torn down once it’s in place?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Youre also forgetting another component which is that the instrastructure gets torn down or stolen because it has market value. The replacement, maintenance, and security of wired grids is likely higher.
Why would infrastructure get torn down once it’s in place?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to have conveniently forgotten about centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation and state-sponsored regime changes, which still plague Africa today.
How would you differentiate Africa from East Asia in those regards?
I can't speak to why there historically hasn't been as much manufacturing in Africa—I'm guessing it's just cheaper to colocate with others for lower costs across the board?
Regardless, (neo)colonialism does dominate both regions—it's a hard state to avoid if you want to interact with a global economy at a deep financial disadvantage.
Because they failed to maintain or invest in a regular grid. Off-grid, battery-backed is far more expensive than generator-backed at scale… at least for now. And you still need generators for poor weather.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline https://developmentreimagined.com/infographic-exploring-afri... https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/72h/hourly (center map on Africa) Africa is leapfrogging legacy electrical infra models, and likely has no need for the legacy model of centralized generation and long haul transmission to load centers. (the battery cost…
It's not too different to how developing counties rolled out wireless Internet and gained a huge benefit without much infrastructure investment.
They should explicitly call out Nigeria instead of treating it as "Africa". Nigeria is unique in how they actually have a formal industrial strategy for mini-grids [0] thanks to World Bank support [1]
It's a uniquely Nigerian program and Nigeria's Rural Electrification Administration (REA) should be given it's due credit. When Boko Haram does something bad it's "Nigeria", but when Abuja does something good it's "Africa".
Finally, what works for a federal state with a relatively strong civil service like Nigeria cannot be replicated in every "African" country, due to entirely different administrative and bureaucratic norms and capacity.
[0] - https://rea.gov.ng/minigrids/
[1] - https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/1ea...
It's been obvious for a long time this was going to be the development path for Africa. Just as they leapfrogged land line telephones for cellular. Africa was never going to build out massive coal and natural gas based electrical grids with transmission lines substations and utility poles bringing electricity to every home. The capital isn't there and the cost of renewables keeps falling.
Of course with the large number of countries there, that generalization is false. But it is overall close a enough to true.
Mini-grids may be the part the EU is missing. Selling your surplus ev power to grid is a huge waste, charging your neighbours car is a better use.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline https://developmentreimagined.com/infographic-exploring-afri... https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/72h/hourly (center map on Africa) Africa is leapfrogging legacy electrical infra models, and likely has no need for the legacy model of centralized generation and long haul transmission to load centers. (the battery cost…
I recently bought 4 lifepo4 12v 100ah ~1200 wh for $159 off Amazon as a retail customer. Battery storage is indeed cheap and accessible to the average person. Pair it with new 24% efficient solar panels and you can see why there's little to be gained by running expensive lines to distribute power when it can be sent everywhere wirelessly. It's not too different to how developing counties rolled out wireless Internet…