By Emmanuel Nduka
Power-starved North Korea is gradually turning to solar power to help meet its energy needs.
This comes as the isolated regime of Kim Jong Un seeks to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels amid chronic power shortages.
Prices of solar panels have dropped in recent years, thanks to an influx of cheap Chinese imports and a rise in domestic assembly of panels within North Korea.
The development has allowed many North Koreans to install small solar panels costing as little as $15-$50, bypassing the state electricity grid that routinely leaves them without reliable power for months.
Also, larger solar installations have sprung up at factories and government buildings over the past decade.
North Korea’s disorganized electricity grid draws on ageing hydro and coal-fired thermal power stations, many of them built during the cold war with Chinese and Soviet assistance.
UN sanctions restrict the regime’s imports of refined oil and petroleum products. Pyongyang relies on shipments from China and Russia, as well as networks of smugglers and organised criminal groups.
Sadly, while millions of North Koreans lack reliable power supply, national monuments and statues of the regime’s past rulers are routinely floodlit at night.
