Many developing countries have poor areas without electricity. The proportion is twice in rural areas than in urban areas. For these people, even a small amount of electricity could lead to life-saving improvements in all aspects of their lives. They need a new and clean method to solute the electricity problem.
And solar power could be one such solution. People can use solar power to light their garden lights, street lights and heat their water for almost free maintenance after installation. Among those solar products, solar street lights may cause their particular concern for the program to be sponsored by the government and then be good for many people. The advantages in these areas are they almost have intense solar potential. For example, most of Africa has 325 days of strong sunlight a year and it can generate more than 6 kilowatt hour energy per square meter per day. Desertec Project for sub-Saharan areas is operated by the Desertec Foundation, a joint German and Jordanian company.
When it comes to the technology, there are two ways to using solar energy: solar-thermal way to collect the Sun's heat and photovoltaic way to convert the Sun's light into electricity. The former uses a combination of lenses or mirrors to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam and can generate enough heat. The latter uses solar cells to transfer the Sun's light into electricity, which is applied from a solar-powered torch to a large solar power station.
There are two ways to access solar power: purchasing in the open market and accepting international aid. Compute the cost for a simple solar photovoltaic system. More than 90% of photovoltaic systems are based on silicon materials. And the solar power system should be connected to the electricity grid with the help of a device called an inverter. The system also needs batteries to store surplus energy. In addition, an electronic charge controller to prevent the batteries from overcharging is necessary. All of these components are pricey.
So the cost of producing and installation of solar power system is a main problem for these poor countries. In the case of poverty countries, now they have to develop the solar power systems through international aids. A wide range of aid models are in operation now. Organizations and some funders like the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation sponsor solar PV projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Those donating projects are mainly dedicated to improve health, education and livelihoods.
However, with the development of technologies improvement, more and more financial investments swarm into solar field. During the past five years, total investment in solar was US $ 33.5 billion in 2008, increase 172% compared the data in 2004. A German engineer estimates that the cost of supplying off-grid solar electricity would drop from US $ 35,000 to just US $ 8,300 if the new technologies are applied.
Exception economic facts, there are other hurdles for the wide application of solar power for the poor areas. The policy environment favors fossil fuels, which is one of those difficulties, though every government is declaring to reduce global emissions. Other problems include improving local ownership of solar technologies and weaving off-grid solar systems into policies, etc …
In a word, along solar street lights application, solar power application in poverty countries is a promising projects and need every man does his duty.
