Loyiso Tyabashe
NECSA is looking to play a key role in Africa's energy future.
T.J Tall
Lidera Green Power, a subsidiary of Groupe Filatex, focuses on developing solar power plants in Madagascar to provide clean energy to the grid at a lower cost compared to thermal power plants.
South Africa’s Economic Growth Affected By Mismatch Of Electricity Supply and Demand
South Africa’s electricity sector has faced a series of challenges over the last two decades. It started with inadequate grid infrastructure to provide electricity to the majority of the South African population in the 1990s. In 1994, only 36% of total households were electrified; 50% of the urban population and 12% of the rural population.
Particularly in the middle of the 2000s, the national utility, Eskom, ran into liquidity and profitability problems. It received frequent government bailouts. The 2022 national budget allocated R21.9 billion (about US$1.5 billion) to Eskom.
Andrew Amadi
“Africa has an advantage that it has never had before. The cheapest electricity in the world today, is daytime solar in Africa.
If we have the potential for the cheapest electricity, we also have the potential for the cheapest transportation. 40 percent of the national reserves of foreign currencies are used to purchase and import petroleum products. If a large amount of that cost is alleviated in African countries, it creates a system that is immune to fossil fuel-based inflation.”
Eng Samuel Wahome
Kenya is well ahead of its neighbors in the region when it comes to infrastructure, but we still have a long way to go to catch up with developed countries. Our country has seen a boom in infrastructure projects nationwide spearheaded by the current regime. Even with the coming of the pandemic, we have continued with a flow of projects.
With issues like rising food and petroleum prices coming up, there could be fewer funds available for projects. Life must move on though because we will still need to build infrastructure. So we plan to be adaptable to changing economic and political times.
Four Ways Microbial Fuel Cells Might Revolutionise Electricity Production In the Future
The world population is estimated to reach 9.5 billion by 2050. Given that most of our current energy is generated from fossil fuels, this creates significant challenges when it comes to providing enough sustainable electricity while mitigating climate change.
One idea that has gained traction over recent years is generating electricity using bacteria in devices called microbial fuel cells (MFCs). These fuel cells rely on the ability of certain naturally occurring microorganisms that have the ability to “breathe” metals, exchanging electrons to create electricity.
Ukraine War Makes the Case for Renewable, Decentralized Energy
As Putin's war of choice against Ukraine tears that nation apart, his army is in the process of seizing a second nuclear power generating station, which will allow him to cut off power—and thus communications, heat, and water—to large chunks of that nation.
If most households in Ukraine had solar panels on their roofs and battery storage in their basements—as two states in Germany and the US State of California are now requiring for all new construction—blowing up or seizing a central power station would have far less ability to brown out large parts of the country.
Tackling Inequality Will Break the Gridlock On What To Do About Climate Change
We are growing increasingly aware that the patterns of growth and development in the world are not sustainable, either from the climate, or the social perspective (and this was true even before the COVID-19 pandemic).
The recent data from the World Inequality Report show the historical CO2 emissions linked to the development paths from 1850 to 2020 have considerably shrunk the remaining emission-budget which would allow us to stay under 1.5° or even under 2° from now until 2050.
