By Lux Research

This week, Lux Research spoke with the head of Middle Eastern and African sales at a large Japanese solar module manufacturer, who indicated that Africa is quietly emerging as a viable solar market. Overall, he mentioned that he is tracking about 5 GW of possible solar projects throughout Africa, of which 2 GW are in South Africa alone. Further, our contact has been working with several national governments to build feed-in tariffs (FITs) with some success, and has received ministerial approval from a few countries for solar power purchase agreements (PPAs), priced between $0.32/kWh to $0.58/kWh dependent upon the country.

Specifically, he noted that:

• Kenya and Tanzania have removed all taxes from solar imports, down from 17%, and have several large projects under development for middle income housing. Typically, these projects integrate roofdeck PV systems with small batteries, and are primarily being pushed by builders as the supply of electricity from the grid in these countries cannot keep up with the pace of new housing projects. Additionally, there is currently a 10 MW ground-mounted PV system under construction, with panels likely from Suntech Power.
• Angola's President is currently evaluating creating FIT for the country to promote renewables, and the Angolan national utility has already signed a PPA for the first trial solar installation of 2 MW, to be completed in October. Further, the government is planning on adding another seven solar installations with between 10 MW and 25 MW per installation by 2012.
• South Africa is really starting to take off as the leading solar power player in Africa, with Suntech Power and SolarWorld each signing supply deals for large plants. The Suntech project is a 20 MW project on Western Cape, while the SolarWorld project will begin as a 10 MW plant, but will be expanded to 100 MW over five years. Further, expect to hear about several other large projects coming down the pipe.

Outside of Africa, other developing countries with good insolation, such as Yemen and Jordan, seem to be exploring solar generation as well, with the latter country the potential home for a proposed thin-film silicon (TF-Si) module plant being jointly developed by Amelio Solar and the Al-Husseini Group. Further, policy-makers in Bahrain are discussing introducing a FIT, which would make them the first Middle Eastern country to do so. While the heavyweights like Germany, Japan, the U.S., and China will remain the major drivers of the solar market, readers should not neglect the aggregate potential of gathering momentum in smaller markets.