A “solar revolution” is coming to Africa, comparable in scale and importance to the rapid surge in mobile phone use on the continent two decades ago, predicts the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Fast-dropping costs for solar power, combined with plenty of sun and a huge need for electricity on a continent where many are still without it, means solar has huge potential in Africa, said Adnan Amin, the director general of IRENA.
“Africa’s solar potential is enormous,” he said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The continent gets 117 percent more sunshine than Germany, which today has the highest installed solar power capacity, he said.
“It has never been more possible and less expensive for Africa to realise this potential,” he said.
Both grid-connected solar power and off-grid solar energy now offer “cost-competitive means to meet rising energy needs and bring electricity to the 600 million Africans who currently lack access”, Amin said.
Innovations – including better transmission and storage for solar power, and new payment systems – also mean using more solar power in Africa could boost economies and create jobs for millions of people across the continent, he said.
"Africa’s vast solar potential presents a huge opportunity for people to engage in a range of economic activities such as irrigation and agro-processing, and it is already beginning to happen,” said the Nairobi- born Amin.
source: http://af.reuters.com
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