PV Gap

Dave Said:

Why doesn't South Africa use more alternative energy sources like solar power?

We Answered:

Truthfully, I don't think anyone but someone from the government could truly answer this question. However, when I typed "South Africa and renewable resources" into Google, I found this really good article written by someone from South Africa.

Apparently cost isn't the only major factor, but access is. This will blow your mind, but according to this article, while half of the electricity used is produced on the South African continent, only 1/3 of the population has access to it! This means that about 2/3 of the population rely on non-renewable resources like coal, paraffin, gas or candles. This was probably a fact as of 2001 when the site was last updated.

There are other links that you can find with Google. The one I referred to was the first one and the most recent. If you really want to find some more current answers, contact the African Studies department or even contact the Engineering department of your local college or university and ask them your questions. Either one of these departments are good places to start.

Be sure to indicate to those you speak with that you want the most current information possible. They may not tell you the exact answer, but they may be able to tell you exactly where to look!

Hopefully this helps!

Gabriel Said:

Is it possible to transport solar energy from Africa to Europe?

We Answered:

Yes you can

With DC gigavolt wires you can have distribution losses lower than 5% per 1000km. This would mean still 85% could reach Europe.

The idea however is to use the energy for local markets first and then have a large network with different sources in different places to balance the supply and demand for electricity.

And yes electricity can be transported under the sea:
- from offshore windfarms to the coast
- from Norway to Denmark
- from France to Britain