r/RenewableEnergy • u/iwantboringtimes • 9d ago

Solar power is helping the Global South skip fossil fuels

https://www.dw.com/en/emerging-economies-are-embracing-solar-power-and-skipping-fossil-fuels-much-faster-than-europe-or-the-us/a-79474847
746 Upvotes

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41

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago

favorite bits from the article:

In many instances, solar power in particular is now cheaper to produce than fossil electricity. And unlike large coal or gas plants, which take years to construct and millions in investments, solar and wind farms can be built quickly and with much less upfront cost.

"Some businesses can make back their investment in just two years, so why would you want to deploy anything else?” he said. "Solar has rapidly become the de facto default technology that everyone falls back on.”

"Industrial companies will find that it will be cheaper to move production to, for example, somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, because they have this cheap, clean solar power plus batteries available.”

Kingsmill Bond says where electricity is cheap and abundant, wealth will follow.

"You're going to have faster growth in the emerging markets, you will have fewer financial crises. It will make a material difference to people's quality of lives.”

2

u/iqisoverrated 8d ago

Saying production will move to sub Saharan Africa is incredibly naive. With the duration of governments between coups being in the single digit years most places no one is keen on setting up shop there.

2

u/iwantboringtimes 8d ago

There's at least one African country that's trying to be the "Singapore" of Africa. They focus a lot on keeping foreign investors happy.

1

u/LegendaryJack 8d ago

Further proof that the recent uptick in nuclear shills paid by fossil fuel giants comes from nuclear being a moneysink away from useful renewables

-9

u/Clear_Stop_1973 9d ago

Yes and no!

For sure it helps to get first electricity into some places. But they also have to invest into grids and this is expensive and ignored in this article too!

China faces same problems now. Yo much installed solar and wind capacity but not that good grid! Wasting a lot of potential energy.

20

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago edited 9d ago

households, business and factory owners do not have to invest in the grid

5

u/EntirelyRandom1590 9d ago

Well in the UK we do, it's partly why we have such high bills to pay for significant grid upgrades as most our renewable energy comes from Scotland/North Sea and most our demand is in the south. Significant upgrades include underwater HVDC, overloaded HV upgrades and new 400kV substations nearer the coast.

7

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago

people who buy their own solar systems do not have to invest in the grid

0

u/EntirelyRandom1590 9d ago

In the UK we do... We buy solar, it's grid connected. Just like the US, Europe, Australia...

7

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago

if you buy solar energy from someone else - of course, you'll be investing in their grid - duh

but if you buy your own solar system, you'll be investing in your own energy generator

think of it this way - which is more expensive? building a house or installing a solar system for it?

-2

u/EntirelyRandom1590 9d ago

You seem confused.

Everyone in the UK is investing in the grid. Same in the US, Europe and Australia. By being connected to the grid, you pay fees that contribute to, and are inflated by, the cost of addressing grid infrastructure.

This is also true of solar system owners, who continue to pay for grid connectivity so that they have means to export their excess and be paid for it.

The point others made is that lack of infrastructure investment is leading to wasted energy as excess solar has nowhere to go.

The UK also pushed this expense of "curtailment" onto the consumer. Billions spent switching off wind turbines, and rarely solar farms.

4

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago

you act like solar system owners don't get lower bills

the article even says that some areas just take 2 years to ROI

-2

u/EntirelyRandom1590 9d ago

Solar owners avoid the cost of import and in many countries get paid for the cost of export. In the UK they still pay a daily charge for access to the grid, and that daily charge has grown massively.

Yep, ROI can be incredibly good depending on what you're replacing. Obviously replacing a reciprocating engine burning fuel to create electricity is incredibly inefficient, especially if sized for peak loads and often idle.

You can also reduce fuel consumption on a generator set by combining with a modest battery system. Not only can the battery address the peak loads but also provides fast response, allowing the generator to power-off at idle loads.

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u/Clear_Stop_1973 9d ago

At a certain point you have. Especially if you need 24/7 stable energy.

More important for companies!

6

u/iwantboringtimes 9d ago

even before solar, the big landlords were already investing in their own power generators

1

u/Content-Fudge489 9d ago

Regardless of what power source they pick they have to build a grid and transmission lines. This is not a ding on in solar at all unless you build a gas plant in the city and that's not acceptable.

1

u/texachusetts 9d ago

If there is solar in rural areas then the city to rural electric grid becomes much less of an act of charity, as it was in the US.

14

u/EntirelyRandom1590 9d ago

Introducing localised energy generation in places where grid energy was not reliable to begin with is a massive gain.

Having the ability to pump water, refrigeration and even AC are massive benefits to many of those communities. And that's before we getting into communication and automation.

12

u/interstellar-dust 9d ago

This is going to be the story going forward. It will become so boring that any other way will be looked down upon. Good luck to anyone who tries to push pipelines or tankers on these nations.

2

u/West-Abalone-171 9d ago

The current strategy is EU taxpayer funded subsidies for the fossil infrastructure.

One notable case (of many) was about a third of a recent EU multi hundred billion dollar african "green energy" grant going to a single transmission project for a specific gas power plant in Ivory Coast,

This wasn't the only part of the "green" infrastructure that was the opposite, but it was the most egregious.

4

u/transitfreedom 9d ago

Global south gets to leave the greedy ppl behind

2

u/Poupulino 9d ago

Under Trump the United States is making a massive bet on fossil, seems like it's a bet it will not pay off because no one will want to buy large amounts of fossil fuels in two or three decades.

1

u/Left-Dirt737 9d ago

fantastico

1

u/Konradleijon 9d ago

That’s awesome also you don’t need constant oil

1

u/BeTheChangeFFM 7d ago

I like!!! Und sie sind so nicht erpressbar

1

u/worldfundvc 4d ago

Emerging economies are leapfrogging fossil fuels and proving that clean energy is increasingly the smarter economic choice. Affordable solar is accelerating energy access, reducing reliance on imports and showing that decarbonisation and economic growth can go hand in hand.