ON March 26, 2018 Pan Stanford Publishing released the 9th book in its renewable energy series: ‘The Sun Is Rising in Africa and the Middle East: On the Path to a Solar Energy Future’. It was authored by Peter Varadi, Frank Wouters, and me, and includes important chapters by contributors Anil Cabraal, Richenda Van Leeuwen, and Wolfgang Palz. It is available in a paperback, Kindle, and digital format and can be found on several bookseller websites.
Summary (from back cover of book)
Both Africa and the Middle East are blessed with enormous solar energy resources. Electrification is an urgent need in Africa, where many of its 54 countries are among the world’s fastest-growing economies, but where half the population still has no access to electricity. Solar energy is seen as the fastest and cheapest path to addressing this need. Oil-rich countries in the Middle East are turning to solar energy to meet the growing domestic demand for electricity, freeing up hydrocarbons for export. This book describes the energy transition in Africa and the Middle East, from dependence on fossil fuels to increasing reliance on solar energy. The authors were assisted by the contributions of top experts Wolfgang Palz, Anil Cabraal, and Richenda Van Leeuwen in their efforts to provide a sound basis for understanding where solar energy is heading in these two important global regions.
I also include here the book’s more expansive Epilogue:
Epilogue
An energy transition that took its first tentative steps in the latter part of the 20th century is now unfolding rapidly in the 21st century. It will have a major impact on Africa and the Middle East along with every other part of the world. It is a transition from dependence on carbon-based fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to the utilization of renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and ocean technologies. All, but geothermal, which is derived from the radioactive decay heat in the core of the earth, and tidal energy caused by the moon, are direct or indirect forms of solar energy. Just as we have experienced a fossil fuel era for the past few hundred years—today the world is still more than 80% dependent on such fuels—we are now embarking on a solar energy era that taps into the enormous amounts of energy received by the earth from its sun 150 million kilometers away. To put this in context, while the earth intercepts approximately 6 million exajoules of solar radiation each year (1 exajoule = 1018 joules), and the total global energy consumption is about 600 exajoules, the fraction of the sun’s radiated energy intercepted by the earth’s disk is only 4 parts in 10 billion. The issue before us is how to utilize this diffuse energy source cost-effectively and meet, in an environmentally friendly way, the needs of an expanding global population
We are transitioning from relying on ever-scarcer sources of fossil energy to an era of unlimited, clean, and cheap energy, brought about by modern technology. This transition, which can also be seen as an energy revolution, has major implications for bringing energy services not only to urban and peri-urban areas of Africa and the ‘Middle East but also to those rural, off-grid areas currently without access to electricity. Both Africa and the Middle East are blessed with enormous solar resources, which are just beginning to be tapped, providing an opportunity to improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Efficient and cost-effective solar solutions and novel business models enable previously unserved people to leapfrog straight into the future of energy. This book explores some of these opportunities that will transform Africa and the Middle East in the decades ahead. It is an exciting time in the energy history of the world, and Africa and the Middle East will be important playing fields in creating that new history.