Gabon Inaugurates Ayémé: Central Africa''s Largest Solar Plant
As the largest solar facility in Central Africa, it sets a strong precedent for future solar investments and demonstrates the viability of large-scale projects in addressing regional
Located in Danzi, 17 km North-West of Bangui, the country's capital city, it is the first solar PV project in the area. The CAR has one of the lowest rates of electricity access in Africa. Only 14.3% of the population has access to electricity, with rates ranging from approximately 35% in Bangui to about 0.4% in rural areas.
South Africans like Dr. Booley have found a remedy for power cuts that have plagued people in the developing world for years. Thanks to swiftly falling prices of Chinese made solar panels and batteries, they now draw their power from the sun. These aren't the tiny, old-school solar lanterns that once powered a lightbulb or TV in rural communities.
And they are changing everyday life, trade and industry in Africa's biggest economy. This has happened at startling speed. Solar has risen from almost nothing in 2019 to roughly 10 percent of South Africa's electricity-generating capacity.
Installation labor is local, but the panels and batteries are almost all made in China. “The economic trade-offs are significant,” said Marvellous Ngundu, a researcher with the Institute of Security Studies, a think tank in Pretoria. “Jobs are created elsewhere.
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