Digital Dialogue Hosted by Solar Power Europe at aef 2020, during the Digital Energy Festival.
There is a chain of need across Africa’s renewables drive between the role of solar, its potential impact on energy access in emerging markets, and the role of digitalisation in making this transition both pronounced and sustainable. However, this link also has numerous sub-considerations across the value chain that need to be addressed in order for this to be a success. “If you think of a solar project and think about the value chain and lifecycle of it, I think in every piece of this value chain there’s tremendous amounts of innovation that can happen and that is already kicking off,” said Hendrick Broering, CPO, AMMP Technologies.
This spans construction, financing and management of these assets, but the successful implementation and adoption of new innovations requires benchmarks and data. These are two elements that are currently lacking, however. The nascency of mini and micro-grids in emerging markets means that information is either too unreliable, not being shared or not concerted enough to attract further substantial investment. This is the leap that’s required, as scale will convert the conversation from ‘cost’ to ‘value’.
“I would really welcome the industry to learn more quickly, with everyone having the same understanding of all the issues that take so much time to encourage solutions, as everyone is keeping their information to themselves,” added Jörg Althaus, Regional Manager for India, Middle East and Africa for Solar Energy, TÜV Rheinland. “But I see movement there – there is hope.”
This spans construction, financing and management of these assets, but the successful implementation and adoption of new innovations requires benchmarks and data. These are two elements that are currently lacking, however. The nascency of mini and micro-grids in emerging markets means that information is either too unreliable, not being shared or not concerted enough to attract further substantial investment. This is the leap that’s required, as scale will convert the conversation from ‘cost’ to ‘value’.
“I would really welcome the industry to learn more quickly, with everyone having the same understanding of all the issues that take so much time to encourage solutions, as everyone is keeping their information to themselves,” added Jörg Althaus, Regional Manager for India, Middle East and Africa for Solar Energy, TÜV Rheinland. “But I see movement there – there is hope.”
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