For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
knowablemagazine.org
For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
1–10 of 99 posts
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#2Because 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.
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#3Because 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.
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.
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#4Because 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.
You seem to have conveniently forgotten about centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation and state-sponsored regime changes, which still plague Africa today.
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#5Because 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(the battery costs in the Our World in Data citation are already out of date, and as of 2023, the average global price of batteries was $95/kWh, see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-07-09/china-... | https://archive.today/DklaA for more)
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#6Because 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.
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?
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#7Because 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.
You seem to have conveniently forgotten about centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation and state-sponsored regime changes, which still plague Africa today.
[deleted]
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#8Because 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.
You seem to have conveniently forgotten about centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation and state-sponsored regime changes, which still plague Africa today.
[dead]
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#9Because 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.
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?
Re: For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids
#10Earlier 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?
[deleted]