One of the aims of the trip is to prove how well Solar PV technology works, there are still many misplaced misconceptions that it doesn't work. Here are some installations so far. All of these are working and it shows how flexible the technology is and what a wide range of uses there are for it. It is also interesting to see the number of different companies who have invested in it.
Hopefully this will help you to understand how good this technology is and donate to SolarAid @ www.justgiving.com/overlandinthesun
Sudan
Sudan has some of the best conditions in the world for Solar, its proximity to the equator means that it receives amazing sunlight and it also less effected by the cloud and rain that you often find right on the equator. Our Solar system has been amazing here!
Most of the Sudanese electricity is from dams on the Nile - while low carbon this is problematic in many ways. Internationally, the more dams Sudan builds on the Nile this can effect the dams in Egypt. Upstream, Ethiopia is starting to build dams on the Blue Nile - which will impact the Sudanese dams. Nationally; as Sudan is such a vast country, areas away from the Nile do not have electricity due to transmission costs - these areas are also often the poorer areas (Darfur and the South) and in need of cheaper electricity to prosper. Locally, dams cause problems for farmers, in the North farms complained of ever changing river heights making it almost impossible to farm land long term with better techniques.
Solar
