President Obama Commits to Solar Power Investments

President Obama discusses about solar power to the audience during a stop in Nevada. Solar power will be part of a new initiative to bring electricity to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

          Along with more than $9 billion in private investments, the United States will be committing more than $7 billion in the next five years towards bringing electricity to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, President Obama had said on Sunday in South Africa. "Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age," Obama said in announcing the solar initiative, known as Power Africa. "It's the light that children study by, the energy that allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It's the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs. And it's the connection that's needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy."
        Sub-Saharan Africa compromises 48 nations. Among the countries to be targeted initially are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. "These countries have set ambitious goals in electric power generation and are making the utility and energy sector reforms to pave the way for investment and growth," the White House said. The more than $7 billion in United States investment will include up to $5 billion in support from the United States Export-Import Bank.
       "More than two-thirds of the residents of sub-Saharan Africa lack access to power," the president said. "In rural areas of the region, more than 85% of people don't have electricity. Power Africa will deliver electricity to cities, villages, and farms throughout sub-Saharan Africa." According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Saharan Africa will need more than $300 billion in investment to provide power for everyone by 2030. "Power Africa will supply electricity to at least 20 million households and businesses," the White House said.

Latin America is Focused on Solar Energy!

     Argentina and Venezuela, which are the least renewable energy countries in Latin America, is planning on expanding on solar capacity as the government is willing to support their finances with a few incentives. International developers have actually been helping Argentina by planning plants, which gets as twice the solar radiation of Germany, which is the largest solar market at this time.
     According to Marcelo Alvarez, head of solar for trade group Camara Argentina de Energia Renovable (CADER), he claims that in 2012, Argentina has applied to build 11 projects of 20 megawatts each. By doing so, this would be helping President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's administration in meeting 8% of Argentina's power by 2016, in which the present time in 2013, it is now 2%.
     Argentina plans to build 3,000 megawatts in clean-energy capacity, of which approximately 10% may come from solar energy. About 625 megawatts are mainly in operation, which most of them are small hydropower projects and solar energy reigns only 6.2 megawatts.
     In 2011, regulation has been passed that allows developers to negotiate premium tariffs with the government and grid operation without relying on clean-energy tenders arranged by Energia Argentina SA, the state energy company. Officials have been concentrated on organizing and developing long-term contracts for power from the plants, bringing an interest from companies residing in Spain to China.
     However, Argentina has granted long-term contracts for 895 megawatts in 2010, whereas it included 20 megawatts awarded towards Genneia SA for Argentina's first large solar parks, enabling the energy to be enough to power 30,000 homes. In this, Energia Argentina SA has been backing five companies in starting the projects before the government is able to sign off the tariffs that will support the renewable energy industry.
    In reference to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank and New Energy Finanace, Brazil has been leading Latin America in installed renewables capacity. Latin America and the Caribbean have more than 6,000 megawatts of solar sites under development, which includes about 2,800 megawatts in Chile and 1,400 in Brazil.