The World Bank aimed to set Africa on a course to sustainable energy. Instead, it shed light on how a lack of transparency in the climate and development industry hampers progress
I think your entire argument is all very wrong? There’s gigawatts of solar being deployed in Africa, just not in traditional grid tied commercial installations
This whole idea that the world bank should do something was somewhat surprising to me. I would expect governments to just pay companies to provide solar power. Is it not cheap enough to be viable, anywhere in Africa?
Has any world bank program ever successfully scaled into a normal market where services are provided by corporations?
Excellent article! Solar is booming in key markets like the US, China, and India, but we absolutely need to make it happen in Africa too. This essay outlines what it will take.
Plenty of oil resources in Africa.
Why waste oil building solar panels?
Better uses perhaps?
It’s not scaling because there is neither the demand nor infrastructure to support scaling.
I think your entire argument is all very wrong? There’s gigawatts of solar being deployed in Africa, just not in traditional grid tied commercial installations
Yes, some rooftop in some countries (like SA) and some minigrids (like Nigeria). But no country is going to industrialize without utility-scale power.
More to the point of my article, the IFC program was specifically for utility-scale. It flopped.
This whole idea that the world bank should do something was somewhat surprising to me. I would expect governments to just pay companies to provide solar power. Is it not cheap enough to be viable, anywhere in Africa?
Has any world bank program ever successfully scaled into a normal market where services are provided by corporations?
Excellent article! Solar is booming in key markets like the US, China, and India, but we absolutely need to make it happen in Africa too. This essay outlines what it will take.