Solar in Johannesburg

Chinese solar bids for African business

JOHANNESBURG South Africa

In a show of commercial muscle that highlights China's growing investment in Africa, Chinese solar power producers dominated exhibits Thursday at an energy conference on a continent where nearly two-thirds of the population lives off the electric grid.

"Wow! It's like an invasion!" exclaimed a South African exhibitor at the African Energy Indaba, where 60 of 80 stands were Chinese vendors.

African clients. Those could include governments that want to power health centers and schools in remote areas, rural farmers who want electricity for water pumps and cell phones.

They also could include villagers who walk miles to find wood for cooking, and middle-class families fed up with soaring power prices and urban power cuts.

Germany, the leader in solar energy in the West, was represented only by the European nation's chamber of commerce. The United States, in growing competition with China for African business and resources like oil and strategic minerals, sent two diplomats.

Shanghai company's home supply systems,

He offered everything from a small panel to power one light bulb to a system that would help power a three-bedroom home, for $11,430.

"Even at our much cheaper prices, people here cannot afford solar power." The small panel he's selling costs about $215 — more than the monthly wage of an average South African farm laborer. The cheapest panel at the exhibition cost $99.

In Africa, a Chinese firm has helped Kenya take the lead in solar power. Project developers anticipate producing panels in Africa for one-third of the imported price.

source: woodtv.com | businessweek