There's evidence a renewables revolution
could be beginning to take hold in
Africa. The global energy think tank
Ember suggests that imports of solar
panels are up by 60% over the 12 months
to June compared with the previous year.
The data shows 20 African nations set
new records for solar panel imports over
the period including Algeria, Zambia,
Botswana and Sudan. Agutu Akuru is
founder and CEO of Guru Energy, a
multi-energy company focusing on the
deployment of energy resources. and she
says solar power increases could be
transformative for millions of people.
>> What we're seeing is Africa is the
continent that has the most amount of
sunlight and this sunlight needs to be
converted to energy. And so when you're
looking at some of these different
governments and you're looking at seeing
progressive policy and what that is
going to look like for the end users, I
think it's absolutely fantastic. When we
zero in on countries such as Nigeria
with a population of over 250 million
people, you realize that they fit part
of this 600 million people on the
continent without access to energy. And
if solar has the capability to bridge
that then that is completely important
right now.
>> What what does it actually uh mean for
the for the costs um of countries which
are buying more solar and for what it
then unlocks
>> access to energy unlocks and unlocks
potential and transforms lives. And when
you have this access to this solar, what
we're talking about is first of all, you
look at some of these different
countries like Nigeria. Um you've
mentioned also Algeria, you're going to
be affecting the factors and the cost of
production. And this goes for all goods.
Energy is by far the biggest cost when
it comes to factors of production. So
the minute you have incentivized policy
where you're saying let's remove the
value added tax and fees and a lot of
the red tape that exists in importation
and use of solar home systems and solar
PVs then you're saying that we as
governments are prioritizing
electrification and energy across
countries and this is going to see costs
drop drastically when we compare
different costs of manufacturing in
different countries. countries across
the continent. We look and see that the
countries that have had lower costs of
manufacturing and cost of power and
energy have been getting much more
investment. Put into case an example
Ethiopia it's approximately US18
12 cents for a kilowatt hour. Kenya is
at 22. Nigeria has been at 55 cents. So
if we're able to change this and
introduce solar energy to be able to be
able to bridge this gap, then we're
going to see a huge change in the
factors of production which is going to
make energy access be more accessible,
more affordable, more reliable and
definitely more deployable
>> and and most of the solar systems coming
from China.
>> Yes. So that is the quagmire that we do
exist in and not only on the African
continent today but globally around the
world. China is contributing
approximately and are dominating 80% of
the solar markets um globally. So this
means that most countries have to get
most of their parts from China. Right
now we're seeing um in Africa Nigeria
have just announced they want to build a
solar they want to be build a solar hub
that's going to generate 1 gawatt. We
see other countries also stepping up and
this is how you bridge the gap. You are
able to step up with innovation through
research and development in your own
countries and on the continent to be
part of that manufacturing line. And
this is going to play a big role. But
it's very important to ensure that
before we put legislation for
protectionism, we have to ensure that
again this solar is affordable and
deployable. And this is only going to be
done through government as a facilitator
and a organizer for private sector to
thrive. Those incentives must be there.
Agu audo there from Guru Energy.