Renewables, Not Coal, Way Out Of Energy Poverty In Africa

November 13th, 2014 by Joshua S Hill

Coal is “essential to meet the scale of Africa’s desperate need for electricity,” says Peabody Energy, the world’s biggest publicly traded coal company. However, a new analysis published by the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI) challenges these claims, finding instead that the falling costs of renewable power is the way out of energypoverty in Africa.

It’s a good old-fashioned “he said/she said” debate, but one that is going to pop up more and more as we continue to divest ourselves from fossil fuels.

Coal’s Only Arguments

In a piece written in August on the Advanced Energy For Life website — a site sponsored by Peabody Energy — Frank Clemente, PhD, wrote that “coal is essential to meet the scale of Africa’s desperate need for electricity.” In the end, Mr Clemente could only resort to baselessly attacking renewable energy proponents, painting us as elitists who can’t see the real issue from our “well-lit and air-conditioned eyries in New York and London.”

“Despite these debilitating conditions, some in the developed world insist that Africa must focus on intermittent and expensive renewables like wind, essentially ignoring the plight of the current generation,” wrote Clemente, adding that “many Westerners criticized the World Bank’s $3.8 billion loan to help build a coal power plant in South Africa, even though the Medupi plant would help stabilize the electricity grid in poverty-stricken surrounding countries as well.”

In so painting us as liberal elitists, Clemente shows clearly coal’s only real argument — and it’s a poor one at that. Not only are renewables a cheaper, more efficient energy option than coal — an energy technology that would require phenomenal resources to get off the ground, compared to relatively simple solar and wind technologies — but they help “the current generation” as well as future generations. Mr Clemente seems to subconsciously realise the flaw in his argument when he writes that we are somehow ignoring the “plight of the current generation” of African citizens — how well he must know what coal will do to future generations of African citizens.

Why Renewables, Then?

There are several fundamentally inescapable flaws in the “coal for Africa” argument that the Carbon Tracker Initiative highlights, and promptly solves by replacing coal with renewable energy.

One of the primary flaws in the argument for coal over renewables is found in the argument for coal: When proponents of coal dismiss renewable energy, they often highlight the apparent costs and technological barriers inherent in renewable technology (an argument that needs its own time and place to debunk). However, in making this argument, coal proponents dismiss their own point in the same breath.

The CTI report notes that 84% of those living without energy access throughout Africa and India live in rural and remote areas — areas without an existing energy grid. Without an energy grid, the energy generated by coal would have no way of reaching its intended recipients, requiring a massive outlay to build the necessary infrastructure to reach the very people renewables apparently “can’t.”

As can be seen in the graph above, provided by the International Energy Agency, the cost for coal to existing grid recipients is relatively low. However, the real costs come when grid extensions are required. Compare on-grid costs to mini- and off-grid costs for rural development of renewable energy, and there are still investment costs, but they are inherently cheaper and more effective.

Furthermore, as the CTI point out, “coal is not distributed well to serve Africa’s energy poor.” Only 7% of the people in sub-Saharan Africa who currently lack access to energy actually living in coal-rich countries. On top of that, the transport links necessary to remedy this problem — between north and south — are poor, and would once again require massive infrastructure costs to solve the problem.

Innovative Methods

Many fossil fuel proponents dismiss renewable energy technology discussions for developing countries as being prohibitively expensive. And, if it was a one-for-one translation between Western-renewable development and developing-renewable development, they might have a point. However, renewable energy developers throughout the developing world are providing innovative methods to provide access to energy for households inherently poorer than their Western cousins.

The CTI press release points out the micro-credit arrangements some solar energy developers have made with households, who can pay off their solar panel loans in very small amounts of money each week, instead of the more traditional large repayments.

“This shows how energy may echo telecoms where mobile networks have provided communications links without a wired telecom network and infrastructure being required – this is what we are seeing in the energy markets in the developing world,” said Anthony Hobley, CEO of Carbon Tracker.

In the end, the argument for coal over renewables is always going to come down to he-said/she-said. The predominant view in society is to listen to the loudest voice, and then move on with your day, assuming you now have all the facts. In time, renewable technology will be known to be the most commonsense option, but in the meantime, coal proponents will be yelling loudly to be heard over the overwhelming logic of renewable technology.

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Tags: Advanced Energy For Life, Africa, Carbon Tracker Initiative, CTI, India, Peabody Energy, South Africa

About the Author

Joshua S Hill I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

Larmion

What many people here are forgetting is that solving energy poverty is not just about providing a rural dwelling with enough electricity to charge a mobile phone. Solving energy poverty also requires producing large quantities of electricity needed to power services, government buildings and of course the ever expanding cities that dot the continent. Oh, and let’s not forget about powering the mines, factories and other forms of industry that are required to end poverty in general.

Doing that is best left to large scale power plants that can exploit economies of scale. Peabody is right in saying that large scale, centralized production has a key part to play in ending energy poverty. Sadly for them, they’re also entirely wrong in saying that those power stations have to be coal-fired.

Many African countries are beginning to experiment with utility scale wind and solar farms and finding they can provide power at very competitive prices. And let’s not forget about hydropower: the vast rivers of equatorial Africa could almost single-handedly power the entire continent (Grand Inga alone could power the whole of equatorial Africa). As of 2014, hydropower is unique in offering cheap, reliable and dispatchable electricity generation and equatorial Africa’s fairly constant rainfall patern make it even more attractive there than elsewhere.
harisA

In order for small solar to be successful, what is needed is a set of standards so system can be manufactured and sold as a complete integrated product (Like televisions or stereo). Someone should be able to go to a market any purchase a box that they could assemble by hooking a few connectors, has a warranty and is backed by a reputable brand.

Otherwise people have to purchase jury rigged systems using cheaply made automotive batteries and B grade electronics and get burned. That scares other people.
- Bob_Wallace
  
  Not really. As someone who travels around these areas which are not served by the grid and are now turning to small solar systems I can assure you that people are doing just fine by purchasing components and putting systems together. There are now shops selling components and local installers.
  
  Batteries are the weak point. But even using auto (or motorcycle) batteries is superior to kerosene and candles. Hopefully some of the new battery technology we’re now seeing will make its way to these less developed areas quickly.
  - harisA
    
    My experience is only in Pakistan, so it is good to know that things are better in other part of the world. I am sure neighbor India is doing much better.
    
    Other than cost, what are some other factors that are impediment to wide spread use of solar?
    - Bob_Wallace
      
      1. A lack of knowledge as to how cheap solar has become.
      
      2. Resistance by the fossil fuel industry which is attempting to avoid losing market share. And going bankrupt.
      
      I can’t think of any more. Later on we will need storage in order to incorporate large percentages of solar (and wind) but that’s years and decades away for most grids.
spec9

Yep. Instead of trying to build massive coal plants which pollute and are expensive and transmission lines (where the copper is often stolen), at this point it is much better to do small local solar PV which is used to charge up LED lanterns, cellphones, radios, laptops, etc.
JamesWimberley

It’s not a he-said/she said argument. Material produced by lobbyists can only be relied on for data. Arguments should be assumed to be biased PR and not made in good faith, but advocacy. (They may still be true, but you have to check.) CTI are independent analysts, with a green slant. It’s right to allow for the slant by looking for balancing independent analysis with a conservative slant. The trouble is, the facts are what they are and it’s hard to find such analysis. The EIA and IEA perhaps fit the bill. Charles Frank’s piece for Brookings was shot down in flames by Amory Lovins.
Brian

It is clear that solar power is the future. Solar can be decentralized, and a simple solar panel, can provide enough electricity for one small home in the developing world. In Mongolia, one solar panel provides enough electricity for one hut, without the need for ugly transmission lines crisscrossing the country. Clearly solar, and small wind are better options than large dirty coal plants, which require miles of ugly transmission lines.
Folatt

Peabody’s statement is absolutely right! Except for the “is” part which should be “was” and then he should have added “in the 20th century. Unfortunately they didn’t have any, but those days are behind us now. We live in the 21st century where it’s time for them and us to start investing in solar, because solar is the coal of the 21st century and will be the main driver of our world’s economy for centuries to come.”
frank

The first few watts that power your cell phone, and maybe an LED light are a lot more valuable per watt than the later ones that power the large screen TV. The decision to buy a solar panel, and maybe a battery is much smaller than the one to build a coal plant, and coupled with micro finance, I’m thinking many people are going to think a solar panel on the roof is better than a coal plant in the bush.

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