Energy Market Shake-Up Points To Growth In Off-Grid Electricity

A new report by the World Bank and the off-grid solar industry highlights the huge growth in demand for renewable energy using battery energy storage.

In the last six months of 2018, 3.9 million off-grid solar lighting products were sold with a capacity of almost 33 megawatts, according to the off-grid solar industry report.

Millions of people and communities now have access to electricity thanks to off-grid systems. According to the industry by 2022, across East, West and Central Africa, and South Asia, the off-grid solar sector could employ up to 1.3 million FTE jobs, with South Asia representing the largest region for employment.

According to World Bank data, around 840 million people have no access to electricity while around 3 billion of the world’s population rely on fuels such as wood and dung, adding to the global pollution count.

Advanced lead batteries provide reliable energy storage for renewables systems worldwide including the highest solar farm in the world, in Tibet, and micro-grids for remote communities in Nigeria, Tanzania and Madagascar.

Dr Alistair Davidson, Director of the Consortium for Battery Innovation, said: “One of our main research objectives is to further improve the cycle life of batteries that support solar and other renewables-based systems. It’s clear that advanced lead batteries are ideal for smaller micro-grids and domestic use, and the whole decentralization of the power supply network opens up significant new markets worldwide as the World Bank indicates.”

See Off-grid electricity is reaching into the remotest homes, By Nick Butler, Opinion, FT.COM, 29 July 2019 - Copyright Financial Times Ltd.