Renewable energy in developing countries
Renewable technologies can also help to displace other unsustainable energy sources such as kerosene lamps and traditional biomass.
This lack of access to modern energy technology limits income generation, blunts efforts to escape poverty, affects people's health, and contributes to global deforestation and climate change.
Papers written by W. Morgan, R. Moss and P. Richard discuss the opportunities of renewable resources that lie within the developing country as well.
[10] Interest in renewable energies has increased in recent years due to environmental concern about global warming and air pollution, reduced costs of the technologies themselves, and improved efficiency and reliability.
[9] In recent years, supportive programs from governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and community cooperatives have expanded access to these off-grid technologies and the energy services they provide.
Program planners should select “low-hanging fruit” first, aiming for maximum access to modern energy services with the least effort.
Many renewable markets are growing at rapid rates in countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay.
Renewable technologies can also help to displace other unsustainable energy sources such as kerosene lamps and traditional biomass.
[5] Technology advances are opening up a huge new market for solar power: the approximately 1.3 billion people around the world who don't have access to grid electricity.
Renewable energy for cooking and heating can reduce the time that children spend out of school collecting fuel.
The constant use of these types of energy sources exposes them to indoor particulate and carbon monoxide concentrations many times higher than World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
The WHO estimates that 2.5 million women and young children in developing countries die prematurely each year from breathing the fumes from indoor biomass stoves".
Furthermore, renewable can also provide energy to refrigerate medicine and sterilize medical equipment in rural areas where the access to electricity is difficult.
[19] It can also provide power to supply the fresh water and sewerage services needed to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
The Philippines is the world's second largest generator of geothermal energy [25] and was the first Southeast Asian nation to invest in large-scale solar and wind technologies.
In January 2010, the policy was revised to urge private sectors to invest in electricity generation from renewable sources.
For an investment of as little as $100 for the panel and wiring, the PV system can be used to charge a car battery, which can then provide power to run a fluorescent lamp or a small television for a few hours a day.
This investment aims to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically in climate change mitigation.
[39] After the oil shocks of the 1970s, Brazil started focusing on developing alternative sources of energy, mainly sugarcane ethanol.
[46] Despite a global rise in clean energy investments, which saw an increase of 40% since 2020 to reach USD 1.8 trillion in 2023, a mere 15% has been allocated to developing countries.
The disproportionately high cost of capital in these regions, often more than double that in developed economies due to elevated perceptions of political and economic risks, acts as a significant impediment to securing necessary funds.
To combat these challenges, the IEA report advocates for the enhancement of regulatory frameworks, an increase in international support, and a substantial expansion of concessional finance, aimed at tripling the current efforts to effectively bridge the investment gap in renewable energy sectors of developing countries.
