War-driven blackouts push residents towards solar power but high costs shut many out

OMDURMAN (AP):

For almost a year, Randa al-Mansour, a 31-year-old Sudanese housewife, has relied on solar-energy panels installed on the rooftop of her building to survive the recurrent blackouts triggered by the war-torn country’s deteriorating electricity grid.

“We are suffering big time,” said al-Mansour, who lives with her three children in Omdurman, just outside the capital, Khartoum.

“When kids arrive at school in the morning, they find no electricity there. So they are forced to head back home, where there is none either. It is very hard for them to study under such a high temperature.”

The Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting since April 2023, killing at least 59,000 people, though aid groups say the number could be higher, and displacing some 13 million.

The conflict has also strained an already weak power infrastructure, forcing many Sudanese to seek alternative energy sources, especially during the scorching summer heat. The United Nations Development Programme has estimated the damage inflicted on the electricity grid at US$3 billion.

“We resorted to solar energy as a way of adapting to this situation. However, not everyone in Sudan can afford this solution,” said al-Mansour, who supports her family with remittances from her husband, who works in Saudi Arabia.

In recent months, billboards advertising solar panels, batteries and inverters have proliferated across the capital as more Sudanese consider transitioning to solar energy.

“For a low-income family, installing a solar-panel system is a huge sacrifice but an inevitable choice,” said Mohey Eddin Abu-Bark, owner of a solar-systems business in Khartoum, adding that a typical 10-kilowatt household solar system costs nearly US$5,000.

Manahel Madany, a 43-year-old diabetic civil servant, cannot afford the transition despite needing steady electricity to refrigerate her insulin.

“Every three to four days, I am forced to throw away all my insulin stock after it goes bad due to heat and power outages,” said Madany.

She lives in a two-bedroom house with her mother and sister in Omdurman, and, like many Sudanese, the three are forced to sleep in the courtyard of their house to escape the searing heat indoors.

“Not all pharmacies can afford to install solar panels for medical storage, and that’s why most medications have become unavailable,” Madany said.

The Sudan Doctors’ Network, which tracks violence across the country, warned that the continued electricity cuts could affect patients in hospitals, especially kidney patients who require constant care.

At least 30 per cent of Sudan’s population has no access to electricity, with rural areas bearing the brunt, according to the World Bank. Conditions in grid-connected urban centres have also deteriorated, with power outages reaching up to 16 hours in many parts of the country in recent months, according to two electricity-department officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

Electricity production has dropped from 4,400 megawatts before the war to 1,100 megawatts, as many power plants were hit by drones launched by the RSF, while nearly half of Sudan’s most experienced electricity engineers and technicians have left the country since 2023, the officials said, citing a survey by a local labour union.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

Sudan has vast potential to generate solar energy, given the long hours of sunshine that often exceed 4,000 hours per year, according to the UN. However, the high upfront cost of imported solar-energy systems and a depreciating local currency are hindering the transition to clean energy.