Comments on: Why the Power Buildout Will Mirror Cell Phones in Developing Nations

By: 8 Promises from the Capitol’s Cleantech Confab

8 Promises from the Capitol’s Cleantech Confab — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:01:12 +0000

[...] mostly in developing countries (for more on this issue, check out Katie’s article on Why the Power Buildout Will Mirror Cell Phones in Developing Nations). First announced in December 2009 by Secretary Chu, the DOE said the program officially became [...]

By: 5 Reasons Why Developing Countries Need Smart Grids, Too

5 Reasons Why Developing Countries Need Smart Grids, Too — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:36:34 +0000

[...] writes Tongia. Basically skip the older systems, and start with the newer IT-based ones. Many have speculated that developing countries could do the same thing with renewable [...]

By: Chris Leyerle

Chris Leyerle — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:55:24 +0000

Katie,

Great article; you are absolutely right that much of the developing world will skip the central generation and transmission approach in favor of local, distributed generation. Solar is already a commercially proven technology well-suited to distributed generation in remote or off-grid areas. However, as @Clement notes, there is demand for power at night too. That will need the readiness, scale, affordability and multi-year reliability of solar to be matched by storage technology of some kind.

Solar is still relatively expensive compared to other sources (although the cost is coming down.) The developing world will also be well-served by other technologies that lend themselves to distributed, small-scale local generation. Small wind for example, although it is also limited by intermittency and variability like solar.

Where flowing water is available, e.g. from streams and rivers, new hydrokinetic power has promise, especially since it can run at night and when there is no wind. Several companies are developing products to meet this need, including Hydrovolts, about which you’ve posted earlier (http://earth2tech.com/2008/02/13/hydrovolts-harnessing-the-energy-of-currents/)

The scope of the need is so broad, and the resource varies widely. All of these technologies will be needed to fully address energy demand.

By: Earth2Tech Week In Review

Earth2Tech Week In Review — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:36:37 +0000

[...] Why the Power Buildout Will Mirror Cell Phones in Developing Nations: Will developing countries that have not yet built out the power grid to much of their population completely skip the traditional power infrastructure and turn directly to distributed solar for power generation? Several analysts and executives recently have told me “yes,” and it’ll happen sooner than we think. [...]

By: Bob Wallace

Bob Wallace — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:33:04 +0000

What I suspect would make these sorts of applications take off is ultracapacitor storage systems for close to the price of lead acid batteries.

Having lived off the grid for a couple of decades the cost of replacing ones batteries every few years is a significant bite. And poorly maintained batteries (too deeply discharged, too often) can really shorten battery life.

And if you're running packs of multiple batteries they should all be changed out at one time. I don't believe that's the case with ultras. Someone could buy one now and add others later on without the oldest pulling down the performance of new newer ones as is the case with batteries.

If someone can bring an affordable ultra to market that, along with rapidly dropping solar panel price, could work wonders.

By: Clement

Clement — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:28:24 +0000

Katie, this is probably the best article that I have read in a long time. I come from Malawi, Southern Africa. And I grew up in a rural setting where when darkness falls, there is literally nothing production that people can do if they do not have kerosene.Alternatively, they would be chatting around the fire place where they inhale a lot of carbon dioxide. School going children can hardly do their studies.

I have always appreciated the potential of solar technology in the developing world. But my friends who are specializing in that field have been telling me that solar panels are expensive for households. But the price of USD130, considering the fact they the people will not have to pay extra costs since the system is based on nature, I think this is affordable even in Malawi. I look forward to seeing these companies opening their branches in Malawi.If they want me to act as a link man, I am always available.

By: Micah

Micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:35:16 +0000

Distributed solar for end users is just one side of the equation. Consider also the difficulties of providing commercial power to cellular towers in areas lacking powerlines. This problem is not confined to the developing world, either; aside from terrain and NIMBY issues, one of the key reasons why the Rocky Mountain West lacks coverage in mountainous areas is that it's too expensive to deploy commercial power on mountaintops.

By: Kim C. Kristoff

Kim C. Kristoff — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:10:55 +0000

The good news here is that micro technology and scalability is helping the most disadvantaged regions exist competitively and even succeed in spite of crushing poverty and otherwise hopeless environments. We should be able to bring the same emerging transformation in construction systems and transportation too making it possible for even the least economically capable populations to transcend historical barriers to a better standard of living and new opportunities to participate in global commerce.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:58:18 +0000

Aside from the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure, another driving factor to help push these developing, and even developed, nations into a more sustainable form of electricity generation is the high cost of traditional forms of fuel sources. For example, look at Puerto Rico, Hawaii and many other island nations, who have a growing interest in solar and wind. They do in fact offer subsidies to help offset the costs of the installation of these systems, but the main reason is that there are no natural resources cheaply available to them to generate their own power locally. They must import the coal and oil in order to generate power, which burdens them with a high price to pay, so they have a vested economic interest in diving right into sustainable forms of energy.

By: Katie Fehrenbacher

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:20:17 +0000

Thanks Paul. Duron, EGG-Energy (http://earth2tech.com/2010/01/12/egg-energy-the-netflix-of-batteries-for-the-developing-world/) and also D-Light (http://earth2tech.com/2008/06/16/dlight-solar-powered-led-lights-for-the-worlds-neediest/), are all selling power products to replace kerosene that is widely used in rural areas of Africa and India. Perhaps it was a different story where you lived?

By: Wednesday Reads 20/1/10 | New Technology and Cool Gadgets

Wednesday Reads 20/1/10 | New Technology and Cool Gadgets — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:10:57 +0000

[...] Building Out Power Grid Will Mirror Cell Phones. Will developing countries that have not yet built out the power grid to completely skip the [...]

By: Paul Jardine

Paul Jardine — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:55:24 +0000

'These home solar systems are replacing kerosene lighting and disposable batteries' Having lived in some remote villages in SE Asia, I did not see any evidence of kerosene lighting or significant use of batteries. However there were quite a few solar panels installed, paid for by government grants usually, which were almost exclusively used for powering refridgerators, fans and of course, mobile phones. Solar panels have enabled people to inhabit areas which were previously not attractive because of lack of electric grid, so more jungle is being hacked down and more human invasion of animal territory is taking place. Every positive has a consequence and we should be aware of the changes in behaviour caused by these advances.