If you are looking for an opportunity you will have to find it.
What is the definition of opportunity according to the Oxford Dictionary of English?
Opportunity is the time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
Your aim is to build a solar power business in a model African country.
Why? to make money, provide a solution to the energy crisis, provide employment, advance the development of your society.
Electrical energy is the foundation for all commercial and social activity in a society.
Without electrical energy a society cannot develop.
There are 2 ways to obtain electrical energy:
- distributed energy production and local consumption
- centralised energy production and distributed consumption
The centralised energy production and distributed consumption mean that there are energy sources which can be built on a large and grand scale at specific locations and are then distributed all over the country with transmission lines which supply electric energy to every corner of the country.
With population growth more people will need more energy.
New dwellings are constantly being built to satisfy the demand for housing and so the distribution lines will need to be constantly appended. More people means more jobs needed and more infrastructure built to provide for this increase, and hence more transmission lines needed for the new infrastructure.
The capacity of production needs to be increased to accommodate the increase in consumption. So new sources of energy are needed to be added constantly.
This means a lot of planning needs to go into providing the energy for the population.
Long term projects cannot be built fast, because they are massive and need vast amounts of resources. The advantage, however, is that they provide employment for the construction industry and other sectors that supply materials and equipment.
The sources of energy in a centralised energy production include:
- Hydro
- Oil
- Natural gas
- Coal
- Waste
- Geothermal
- Wind
- Solar
Oil, natural gas, coal and waste use fire to produce energy. They have been proven to be harmful for the environment. They produce CO2 which the world has pledged to reduce the output their of. They are also subject to the long term availability of the resource which is not guaranteed to last for ever. The prices of these materials fluctuate which means that countries constantly need to find the money to extract or buy these materials from producers.
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Clean forms of energy are geothermal, hydro, wind and solar. The three latter forms are affected by climate and environment. Geothermal and hydro sources are affected by these being available in the country. Wind and solar need an infrastructure to store the energy for the durations when energy cannot be produced from these sources.
A decentralised distribution of electricity production of clean energy production scenario is where local energy needs are met by local sources of power which are of small scale and the distribution grid is small. The sources which can provide this energy are:
- Small hydro
- Wind
- Solar
These are clean forms of energiy which can be produced intermittently subject to the whim of nature. The wind and solar forms need storage to provide energy for longer durations of time.
The advantages of solar power in a model African community
Solar power can be designed for both central and local scenarios. Both these can be distributed or they can be designed for locations where the distribution grid is relatively small. They can be for a house, business, village, town or in a city. However, in cities the main problem is the lack of space to install solar panels.
It is relatively easy to install solar power in the home or for a business. Depending on the amount of energy needed for the operation in home or business.
The sun is a universal source of energy during the daytime as long as there are no clouds. During nighttime installed batteries can provide the necessary power for the specified duration needed. They can also bridge the times when the skies are cloudy. It is noted that the cooler the temperature is the more solar energy is converted to electricity and the hotter it gets the less energy is produced.
The amount of watts which can be produced by solar power can range from milliwatts to megawatts. This huge range means that there is a large breadth of applications which can utilise the solar power. So the produced electricity from solar can be used in the commercial, industrial, educational and recreational activities in the communities.
The sectors of a society can be divided as follows:
- Transportation
- Construction
- Information Technology
- Education, Research and Development
- Health
- Telecom
- Services Sector
- Commerce
- Government
- Culture, Media and Entertainment
- Industry
- Financial
- Hospitality
- Restaurant and Catering
These are all needed activities which will advance a society and they in turn need energy.
Since most African countries are developing, these sectors are also developing and the demand for energy is constantly increasing. So electricity generated through solar power could and will play a pivotal role to advance the development of the society.
The Solar Power Value Ecosystem
The solar power value ecosystem is created by the members of the society working in the field of solar power. As long as the number of people increases in a the society through birth and increase in the life expectancy the more energy is going to be needed to sustain the activities of these people in the society. The more affluent the society becomes the more energy it needs. In that case all the groups in the society will need energy at varying times and for varying reasons. The expectation is that there will be an increasing need for electrical energy from solar power.
The solar power value ecosystem includes the components and activities required to educate, support, manufacture, trade, market, sale, plan, engineer, build, operate, manage, monitor and service solar power systems for customers. To build the value ecosystem there has to be cooperation and competition. There also have to be the right and continuously adjusted framework to allow for a thriving economy in the society.
In each of these activities there are jobs for people with different skill levels and career paths. One of the strength of africans is their entrepreneurial spirt and aspirations.
The prerequisite for the activities mentioned above is knowledge and skills acquired through vocational, technical, engineering, business, accounting, management, financial, legal and development practices.
There are abundant opportunities to service the needs of the customers. There are basic needs and there are evolving and newly generated needs. These opportunities evolve through the changing needs which are generated as the society progresses and changes. This necessitates the need for an open society where all participants acknowledge the need of sharing knowledge, opportunity and wealth. This will lead to a thriving economy.
The participants have different levels of development. They can be differentiated into under developed (level A), developed (level B) and highly developed (level C). Each have deviations in their needs for energy as well as the purchasing power and their role in the economic activity of the society. The tools they use to perform their part in the economic development are different. These tools require different amounts of energy. Therefore, the opportunities vary from member to member within a level and from one level to the other.
The liquidity needed for the economic machine to operate is the function of the financial institutions and the function of commercial activity. Access to financing is important and helps in the development in a level and the transition from one level to the other. Therefore, it is important for level C participants to seek participants from all the levels and engage in the investment in their economic activities. The knowledge that this is going on in the society will stabilise the society and improve the economy.
With todays communication technology and the proliferation of the internet it is possible to see what is going on in the world and get inspiration from ideas others advance and thinking of how to localise it to the local economy.
The equipment needed for solar power systems are as follows:
- Solar panels
- Inverters
- Charge Controllers
- Storage Systems
- Mounting Systems
- Transformers
- Monitoring
- Sensors
- Testers
- Cleaning equipment
- Manufacturing
- Cables, Connectors, Junction Boxes
The services:
- Installation
- Insurance
- Associations
- Recycling
- Logistics
- Legal
- Training
- Financing
- Maintenance and Repair
- Operation
- Cleaning
- Publications
One has to think about one’s situation and where one’s interests lie, what skills one has, what skills are needed, where to get them and how to commercialise them.
Good luck and many happy returns.
If you have comments, questions or ideas please post and join in the conversation.