It’s time for solar microgrids to replace dirty diesel generators

In rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, costly diesel generators are often the only power source. A concerted push to deploy solar microgrids could change that.

Source: Manoj Sinha & Joseph Nganga | · CANARY MEDIA · | October 28, 2022

Source: Urja Daily

Tens of millions of people in rural communities across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa live every day with the overwhelming noise and stench of diesel generators. A massive, and in many markets heavily subsidized, diesel economy has been built up in the two regions in recent decades, mainly due to the failure of state-owned power grids to serve rural businesses and households. And that failure has left people with no other choice but to buy expensive and polluting diesel generators and fuel.

But at a time of increasingly volatile oil prices, innovation has opened up an opportunity to scale community solar microgrids and rooftop solar to provide clean power to rural businesses, households, health clinics, schools and farms.