Paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
"Strategic siting and regional grid interconnections key to low-carbon futures in African countries"
Our peer-reviewed paper details siting strategies that reduce the economic costs, risks, and environmental impact of wind and solar deployment in Eastern and Southern Africa. It finds that 'no-regrets'–highly accessible, low-cost, and low-impact–sites are plentiful, and international interconnections needed to encourage their development across the region. The study encompasses and builds on our earlier work with IRENA by exploring wind site selection scenarios in Southern Africa.
The paper is open access (free to non-subscribers) and can be viewed and downloaded on the PNAS webpage here.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley issued press releases about the paper. Check them out here:
LBNL: The Economic Case for Wind and Solar Energy in Africa
UC Berkeley: Renewable energy has robust future in much of Africa