Power to renewables

With the world set to enter the second year since the social and economic impacts of the covid pandemic, this has undoubtedly begun to take a toll on the global economy. As some economies begin to reopen thanks to their vaccination efforts, others begin to feel the pinch brought about by the economic implications that ensued along with the effects of lockdowns and stay at home orders. With a mixed variety of infection rates, some economies saw an increase in hospital infrastructure spending while others saw an increase in the spending towards economic relief programs to provide their taxpayers the boost needed to weather the impacts of not receiving a pay check for extended durations. This was further coupled by the economic disparity that was already begin to grow at the onset of the pandemic, driven by divide in political systems and beliefs as the world began to see a shift in key players.
Our energy sources were a key factor in determining whether or not our economy was able to weather the effects of the pandemic, with special consideration towards the ability of our representatives’ abilities to provide for a sustainable solution for loss of employment driven by immediate closure of borders. This had a significant impact on economies heavily reliant on the flow of tourist funds in order to drive the economies of low income environments, particularly such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. This region alone is also accountable for 80% of the global population that lacks access to electricity, let alone renewable energy. This region also sees a lack of critical infrastructure and policy support due to the majority of its rural population living not only away from the grid but also in deserted areas away from economic activity. These communities are also subject to lack of basic clean cooking technologies, which place an emphasis on household pollution caused by the use of traditional biomass energy as well as cooking fuels derived from natural gases such as kerosene and cheap LPG. Not only is this a contributor towards household pollution but also leads to an unviable solution over extended periods due to the disproportionate onus it usually places on the women and children that usually bear the burden of gathering the fuel sources and tending to gas stoves.
This is also on the onset of a decade whereby the access to sustainable energy and clean electricity sources is likely to reduce due to the inability of these communities to afford such technologies. This has worsened over the decade due to the economic disparity growing coupled with lack of support from targeted policies, which tend to disproportionately exclude those that need it the most. While there has been some progress made on the Total Final Energy Consumption in the inclusion of renewables, these statistics are largely skewed by the inclusion of some that received the lions share of the dedicated support towards transitioning into renewables, whereby some progress makers carried up the averages to shift attention away from those that weren’t able to. Furthermore, these figures were also influenced by the difference between those that did get access to electricity and the figures of population growth, which led to the gap widening in some communities.
Hydropower has undoubtedly been the most favourable source of renewable energies due to the sheer flexibility provided by the technologies and its ability to harness our most available resource on scale. This is also due to the existence of multiple methods to be able to harness its energy, with some projects utilising a reservoir and a Dam to increase the supply during peak hours while retaining the ability to store supply for other times. Other smaller sources of water such as river streams also provide a very unique opportunity for smaller communities that could see the economic benefits from such small scale investments to drive a significant portion of energy and benefits, without the requirement to pollute the environment and without affecting the biodiversity much.
Traditionally, these economies may adopt the use of biomass energy which relies on the collection of firewood, coal or animal dung as sources of cooking fuels, often leading to not only a higher amount of fuel burnt per meal but also leading to significantly more pollution per household. This is further exaggerated by their inability to renewably provide for a day or two’s worth of cooking food, which drives them further into the cycle of poverty as they are not much better off than they were weeks or months ago. Though some solar solutions have been deployed on small scale, personal solar panels are very limiting aside from the assistance in including these households in statistics regarding electrification. Though it is progress to be able to charge a cellphone and to power a fan and bulbs for 2 hours, this is still quite restrictive in terms of solar’s ability to truly cause impact and make meaningful change in the lives of these communities. Some have access to a package which may entail slightly better panels that allow the use of a refrigerator and a few extra hours of fan usage along with their bulbs, which would be a step in the right direction if not for these communities’ inability to put up the deposits required to get this hardware. Furthermore, a lot of these remote rural communities are simply too far away, considered ‘last mile’ communities, for businesses and the economy to conduct targeted outreach, driving the divide further amongst them and those that are included.
This is at a time when there is a growing divide in energy intensity between those that live in urban and rural areas globally. Energy intensity is a measure of a unit of output or productivity in comparison to the energy consumed, which represents increasing efficiency on the end of rural communities to be able to better achieve progress with the source of energy provided through cleaner electricity sources. This lack of electricity and exclusion from the global economy further drives divide on an economic front due to their inability to get onto the internet to engage in global trade or attain affordable education. Access to a laptop and a cellphone, with availability of a clean energy source through targeted policies would provide for a meaningful solution if help got to those that needed it the most. With the level of scale that solar energy hardware has been able to achieve, the obvious response for policymakers in these Low Income Developing countries would be to implement solutions towards establishing a series of mini-grids for remote communities while they work on the implementation of national grids through the variety of sources available to them.
There is also an increasing emphasis on geothermal energy due to advancements in technology and knowledge available to those that are able to harness its energy. Geothermal energy that is available at medium to higher temperatures is able to power larger turbines and solutions in grid storage systems could further emphasise the scale to be realised in these solutions. These in combination with advancements in wind turbines have increased the amount of options available to incorporate renewable energy that does not lead to the increase of overall climate temperatures, which are already rising upward of 1.5 degrees celsius per year. Improvements in turbines and availability of commercial manufacturers have led to capacity increasing fourfold for on-shore solutions and even more improvement for off-shore solutions. Though these may be indicative of a larger upfront capital expenditure, the return available from more clean energy available to empower a larger population to not only have access to affordable electricity but also internet access and financial prospect is one that economies should not take lightly.
With the majority of the excluded population situated within such a restricted geolocation, Sub-Saharan African countries have the unfair disadvantage that could be leveraged into an advantage, should help reach those that need it. Public financial flows through governmental support do get the ball rolling, although further buy-in is needed not only from NGOs and foundations but also from the private market to incorporate ways to include this largely unserved market. These communities also present unique opportunities for innovative hybrid solutions due to the characteristics of the climate they fall within, considering access to the sun throughout the year. Solutions such as community solar to be paired with personal solar devices, such as better solar PV panels and electric stoves would go a long way in empowering these communities to be self sufficient and enabling their progress through the provision of internet with a laptop. Inclusive, targeted programs backed by policy and follow-through would realise so much change over a decade, in comparison to other beneficiary programs elsewhere, simply due to how wide the inclusion gap is.