October 19, 2011 Jonathan Power Africa is a dark continent. Look at it from a satellite at night. Most of it is dark – with only blotches of light in the south, the north and a little bit in the west. For the rest electricity is a rare and precious resource, limited to villages that line a main road or in the small towns. They are infrequent points of light. They don’t light up the sky. From above all we see is darkness. I have just been to a conference in Oslo, “Energy for All- financing access for the poor.” Most of the participants were men in business suits. Not more than 20% were women which was a slap in the face for emancipated Norway where women are 50% of nearly everything- politics, doctors and increasingly business. Nevertheless, the conference was a useful getting together of energy endeavours from very big...
