Vast swathes of humanity live without any electricity at all. This demands that
they seek out far less convenient and more expensive substitutes, with harmful
impacts on their health and well-being, and often go without the appliances,
services and other benefits that many of us take for granted. And yet the vast
majority of this population lives in the ‘sunbelt’, 30 degrees north or south of
the equator, where sunlight is the strongest on the planet and where the sun
generates more watts of power per square metre than anywhere else. So why is
there any electricity shortage whatsoever?
The technology to tap into the sun’s energy and generate electric power –
solar photovoltaic technology – has existed in its present form for more than
half a century. Of late, this technology has faced a surge in demand. But the
irony is that this growth is not coming from the sun-soaked emerging markets,
but from the relatively more cloudy industrialized countries.