evilgenius wrote:I don't know. As a solar investor, I think it is good news that Africa is likely to invest more rather than less money in solar over the next period of time. It is more evidence that solar is going to explode, at some point. It has ceased to merely become something people talk about, but, instead, something that they put into their actual plans. As another for instance, I have notice the small town I live in starting to mention making sure they spend so much money out of the budget in that direction, and they don't just mean powering a battery operated motion sensor now and again.
If Africa does that, I wonder if it will wind up giving them huge solar fields, or if it will incentivize them to develop a grid that includes local inputs, like your house, from the start? I wonder about the difference? Some solar companies have already made a sort of decision not to try and capitalize on panel manufacture. They will capitalize on installation and making systems easier. They won't make too many things. Other companies are still making things. What strategy they choose has a lot to do with how they see the grid developing. You see people with battery systems on YouTube, but that may not be how everyone would go solar. For the most efficient grid, people might mostly sell to the grid from their roofs. But, then, would we enter into one of those "freedom" arguments, over wanting to be independent from the grid and living solely over what one can generate one's self?
For rural areas in Africa and India for that matter, I can see going to solar panels and battery system as being good investments and cheaper then upgrading the electric grid to reach them. Add in a cell phone tower and they can access the twenty first century.
On the other hand for urban areas I don't think they have the roof or ground space available to meet the demand. Of course people closer to the problem will do their own calculations to see which way to go with their money.