Solar inverters can address Africa’s energy grid outage problems, says d.light

Solar inverters can support households and businesses in towns and cities whose own power supplies are vulnerable to frequent national grid outages. That’s according to Karl Skare, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at d.light, the global provider of transformational household solar products and affordable finance for low-income households.

National grid failures continue to disrupt households and business across Sub-Saharan Africa. On average, African companies experience nine blackouts per month, highlighting the scale of the problem and the resulting disturbance to business continuity.

“Blackouts disrupt people’s daily lives and businesses, and impede economic development and growth,” said Karl. “They are set to increase in regularity as the damaging effects of climate change accelerate - take the recent grid failure in Zambia, where frequent grid outages were caused by droughts that took the country’s hydroelectric power supply offline.

Karl points to solar inverters as a solution to overcome the disruption caused by power outages, and in some cases replace grid connections altogether. Solar inverters convert the direct current (DC) electricity from solar panels into a usable alternative current (AC) for households and businesses to use. 

“There is no quick and easy solution to the failure of national grids,” he explained. “Therefore, businesses and individuals need to think differently about how to solve outages and keep the lights on. At present, installing a reliable, affordable backup option is the next best alternative to solving the grid infrastructure issues that are driving outages.

“Many households and businesses currently rely on diesel fuel generators as a back-up power source. But these generators are noisy, expensive to run, and produce harmful fumes and significant carbon emissions. Replacing diesel-powered generators with solar inverters delivers a range of benefits, since they are free to run, clean, quiet and don’t emit unhealthy and polluting fumes.

“A rapid decrease in solar and battery prices has made solar inverters a much more affordable alternative to fuel generators. Public awareness campaigns could help spread the word about this superior alternative and contribute towards adoption of a new technology that is better for people and the planet.”   

Karl concluded, “Power outages will continue to plague several African countries for the foreseeable future. Solar inverters represent a cleaner, more affordable solution to address blackouts than the fuel-based generators that currently dominate the continent.”