solar

OMDURMAN: 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 of 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 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 also has strained an already weak power infrastructure, forcing many Sudanese to seek alternative energy sources, especially during scorching summer heat. The United Nations Development Program has estimated the damage inflicted on the electricity grid at $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 working in Saudi Arabia.

In recent months, billboards advertising solar panels, batteries, and inverters have expanded in 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 household 10-kilowatt solar system costs nearly $5,000.

Manahel Madany, a 43-year-old diabetic civil servant, cannot afford the transition, despite needing steady electricity for her fridge for 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 their house courtyard 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 impact patients in hospitals, especially kidney patients who need constant care.

At least 30% 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 centers 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 best electricity engineers and technicians have also left the country since 2023, the officials said, citing a survey by a local labor union.

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

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

The California Legislature just passed two bills that advocates say will greatly improve access to small-scale solar for renters, people in condos and others who don’t have access to their roofs or can’t afford a full rooftop array.

On Sunday night, lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 1813, a third-time effort to force the California Public Utilities Commission to develop a more robust community solar program, in which residents sign up to participate in a small solar array near where they live and pay monthly at a discount on their electrical bills.

“California’s clean energy transition should benefit everyone, not just those who can afford rooftop solar,” said Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), the bill’s author.

Last week, with Senate Bill 868, California’s Legislature also became the latest to legalize plug-in solar. Also known as “balcony solar,” these systems allow anyone — renter or owner — to set small panels on their patios or fences and plug them directly into wall outlets to lower bills without having to navigate utility permissions.

“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said bill author Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who noted the devices can bring down bills by hundreds of dollars a year. “It’ll be very beneficial for people who are looking to lower their cost of living.”

The votes come after some difficult years for rooftop solar in California thanks to strong pushback from utility companies. The state had been a leader nationally on solar energy in the 2000s. But installation rates plummeted in 2022 after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Public Utilities Commission sharply cut back incentives for customers.

Utilities that lobbied for the change argued that compensating rooftop solar at a higher rate meant that people without solar panels were disproportionately paying the costs of maintaining the overhead lines that everyone uses.

This year, utilities made similar arguments against both the community solar and balcony solar bills.

Pacific Gas & Electric was successful in inserting an end date for Wiener’s SB 868 balcony solar bill, so, if it is signed into law, the Legislature will have to reauthorize it before 2030.

“While the bill establishes additional guardrails, it also creates a period through 2030 during which plug-in solar devices not meeting key safety and certification requirements could be purchased and used in California,” PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said. “We believe customers and emergency personnel deserve the protections that come from clear safety standards and established interconnection processes from the outset.”

Both bills now go to the governor’s desk.

If signed, the balcony solar bill will go into effect once systems have been certified as safe for use in the U.S. by a nationally recognized testing laboratory like UL Solutions. Balcony panels are already certified in Germany, where plug-in solar is popular. Advocates say U.S. certifications will come through soon.

Community solar reform could have a harder time clearing Newsom’s desk, as the Public Utilities Commission, appointed by the governor, has previously opposed this type of program.

All the state’s big investor-owned utilities lobbied against the community solar bill, AB 1813, which would require them to compensate community solar developers and customers at higher rates than those established under the Public Utilities Commission’s current program.

That program, finalized this year, relies on canceled federal funding and incentives that developers say are too low for them to launch new projects.

“We remain opposed to AB 1813 because it would shift significant costs to customers who do not participate in the program,” PG&E’s Paulo said. “This legislation is about profits for solar companies, not customer affordability.”

The Public Advocates Office, the independent consumer advocate at the Public Utilities Commission, said recent amendments to the bill did not address its concerns about shifting costs from one group of ratepayers to another.

“We support expanding community solar so renters and other Californians who cannot install rooftop solar can benefit from clean energy. But the savings for participants should not be financed by raising bills for everyone else,” said Mary Flannelly, a spokesperson for the Public Advocates Office. “Our analysis of AB 1813 estimates that it could shift about $1.5 billion a year onto customers who cannot participate — roughly $12 more per month on average — a sizeable cost.”

Southern California Edison also has opposed the bill. SCE spokesperson David Eisenhauer said it would “expose customers to higher rates and unreasonable costs compared to more cost-effective clean energy sources.”

But Ward disputes that any costs will be shifted to people who don’t have solar. He cited two recent studies that indicate all consumers will benefit from reduced costs when community solar is more available. One found if the state added 5.4 gigawatts of community solar and energy storage, all ratepayers could save $6.5 billion by reducing costs for gas generation, electricity imports and transmission.

Ward and a coalition of environmental groups, solar developers and the Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer advocacy group, have tried for years to get the Public Utilities Commission to adopt their vision for a community solar program that would serve people who don’t own or don’t have access to their roofs. Several other states have them.

The bill would compensate community solar developers and customers at a rate that advocates say more accurately accounts for the savings solar brings to the grid, especially on hot days when the system is stressed.

Wiener said both bills are important for helping individuals and communities “to not be trapped in the monopoly utility model that is so expensive.”

“We should empower people to generate their own electricity and to lower their electric bills,” he said.

The Legislature also passed Senate Bill 913, which would allow batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats and other consumer-owned devices to be bundled together and counted as a reliable source of electricity for the state’s grid.

Brandon Garcia, California director for Advanced Energy United, an association representing clean energy businesses, said it would help reduce strain on the grid and keep electricity costs in check while “giving customer-owned resources a fair opportunity to compete and deliver reliable energy at an affordable price.”

The government hopes the plug-in panels will offer people a more affordable way into solar energy compared to roof installation, although savings will be lower because they generate less power.

A one-panel kit will cost £699 while two-panels will be £1,089, according to UK solar company UKSOL.

The current regulations only allow people to plug in one device per property, but this may be changed in future. A single device may include more than one panel.

The government expects prices to settle at £400-£600 as competition increases and more products are developed.

Its research shows a household could save between £70 and £110 a year on their energy bills.

The precise amount will depend on how the panels are orientated and how long they run. An unshaded south-facing spot is best.

Households which use energy during daylight hours will benefit most as the electricity must be used as it is generated.

Any power not consumed will flow back to the grid, but it’s unlikely homes will get any cash for this.

Unlike rooftop solar panels, these systems do not need to be certified under the official Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), which is the UK’s official quality mark for small-scale renewable energy systems.

But it also means they will not normally qualify for the Smart Export Guarantee that pays people for excess solar power.

THE year is flying by, so much so that it’s time to think about your next holiday. So where is set to be big in 2027?

With events like the Ryder Cup, football tournaments, eclipses and K-pop festivals – these are the spots you should book a holiday to next year.

Algarve… for Formula 1

The Algarve could be a great should for fans of Formula 1 as in June, it will return to Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão.

It will be the first time the F1 has been to the track since 2021.

If you fancy a holiday there as well as a thrilling race, Portimão has an old quarter to explore along with a busy marina and lots of pretty beaches.

From the UK, you can get direct flights from 21 UK airports to Faro – which is the gateway airport to the Algarve region.

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Burgas… for Eurovision

After their win in Vienna with 516 points, Bulgaria will host the Eurovision Song Contest next year.

Anyone wanting to witness countries going head-to-head with bizarre performances should head to Arena Burgas next May.

The city on the Black Sea coast is also one of the cheapest spots for a family holiday with 89p beers and all-inclusive holidays for under £280.

One-way flights to Burgas can cost as little as £17 and are direct from nine UK airports.

Brazil… for FIFA Women’s World Cup

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 will have 64 fixtures across eight host cities throughout June and July.

Locations include Salvador, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro which according to Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey is ‘just like the movies’.

It’s home to Sugarloaf Mountain where you’ll see one of the Wonders of the World, Christ the Redeemer, and the city also has the famous Copacabana Beach.

Rio de Janeiro has direct daily flights from London with British Airways, taking just over 11 hours.

Luxor… for the eclipse

For those who enjoyed the recent partial eclipse in August – a total solar eclipse will block out the sun over parts of North Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Luxor in Egypt is a spot that will see a lot of the eclipse – it will be dark for a total of six minutes and 22 seconds.

The city is known for having the historic Valley of the Kings tombs, and Karnak Temple.

There aren’t any direct flights to Luxor – indirect journeys can take nine hours with a stopover at Cairo.

Australia… for Men’s Rugby World Cup

Between October 1 and November 13 2027, rugby will dominate Australia at the Men’s Rugby World Cup.

Matches will take place across the country in Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane and Townsville.

Of course heading to Australia isn’t just a weekend break for Brits – so make the most of it by planning excursions, heading to its beautiful coastline and even go on a safari.

It’s about to get easier to travel to as with new direct BA flights to Melbourne next January while Qantas will launch the longest ever flights called Project Sunrise between Sydney and London in 2027.

Madrid… for UEFA Champions League

The Premier League season is already underway and soon enough the UEFA Champions League will be too.

Paris Saint-Germain are the ones to beat – and the final match will take place at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid on June 5, 2027.

There’s plenty to do in Madrid too from visiting its world-class art museums like Prado and eating at Mercado de San Miguel where pintxos (open sandwiches) start from £1.30.

One-way flights take two and a half hours and start from as little as £13 and depart from six UK airports.

Limerick… for the Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup golf tournament between teams from Europe and the US will return after two years being held at the Golf Course at Adare Manor in Limerick.

The competition takes just three days, so there’s plenty of time to explore the city.

Take a stroll along the riverside, tour King John’s Castle and enjoy a pint at JJ Bowles which is considered the oldest pub in Limerick.

The nearest airport is Shannon which is a 30-minute drive away from the city. One-way flights are as little as £15 and it takes an hour and a half from UK airports.

Florida… for Disney

Any fans of Disney will want to head to Florida next year, with a number of new exciting launches.

There’s the new Disney World attraction at the Glob Theatre called “Welcome to Monstropolis”, with the monsters in the show introducing visitors to Monstropolis.

And the new cruise ship Disney Believe is set to launch in late 2027 – with a Moana-inspired Grand Hall, Tinker Bell on its bow and Woody and Buzz Lightyear on the stern.

Airlines like BA, Norse, American Airlines, Finnair, and Iberia offer direct flights to Orlando.

Seoul… for K-pop

Calling any K-pop fans – you might want to book flights to Seoul.

Next December it will launch Fanomenon, a festival with concerts and award shows centered around K-pop will debut on December 2 which hopes to rival Coachella.

Head of Sun Travel, Lisa Minot, even tried out a K-pop dance class when she visited as well as exploring K-beauty shops in Myeong-dong and popped into a cat cafe.

Virgin Atlantic launched new flights from Heathrow to Seoul earlier this year, with return flights from £840.

Goodwood… for the races

If you don’t fancy hopping on a plane, then stay right here in the UK.

In West Sussex the Goodwood Estate hosts races throughout the year, and scheduled for 2027 is Qatar Goodwood Festival between July 27 -31.

It will also host a motorsport Festival of Speed between July 15-18.

There’s also live music, lounges, a roof garden, private bars and boxes.

Bitkine, Chad – For Ache Kodo, seeing a doctor once meant saving money for the journey.

Living in Bitkine, in central Chad, she said a medical visit could mean paying for transport, the consultation and other costs of travelling to a larger town.

Now, she can consult a doctor remotely through a Telemedan kiosk closer to home.

“Telemedan changed how my family accessed healthcare services,” Ache told Al Jazeera. “It was difficult before, as it involved me saving money to travel just to see a doctor. Now I’m able to do it on time with fewer costs from where I am. It has also enhanced my economic status.”

For people in rural Chad, distance can be as much of a barrier to healthcare as the shortage of doctors themselves. Medical facilities and specialists are concentrated in larger towns and cities, leaving many communities far from basic services.

Abakar Mahamat grew up with that reality.

“The problem wasn’t only the lack of doctors,” he said. “It was also the distance between those doctors and the communities that needed them.”

In 2021, he launched Telemedan, a telemedicine initiative designed to bring consultations closer to communities where electricity, internet access and medical infrastructure are limited.

“Instead of asking people to travel hundreds of kilometres to find a doctor, I wanted to use technology to bring the doctor closer to them,” Abakar told Al Jazeera.

A clinic powered by the sun

The kiosks run on solar panels and batteries, allowing them to operate without reliable grid electricity.

A local operator registers the patient and takes basic measurements using equipment including blood-pressure monitors, glucometers, thermometers, pulse oximeters and electrocardiogram (ECG) machines.

The doctor joins remotely, appearing on a screen as the operator assists with the examination.

Telemedan says its kiosks can also be equipped with diagnostic tools including stethoscopes, temperature sensors and, in some cases, ultrasound equipment. A trained local operator helps patients use them.

The system is designed for places where internet access may be unreliable. Patient information can be stored locally and synchronised when connectivity returns. An Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service allows people without internet access to book appointments and access health information.

Depending on the location, the kiosks can connect through mobile networks or satellite links.

“We want to see that the absence of reliable electricity or the internet should not mean the absence of healthcare,” Abakar said.

The cost of getting to a doctor

Abakar said some journeys for medical care can cost $200 or more once transport, accommodation, logistics and medical consultations are included.

Telemedan consultations cost between $2 and $15, depending on the service.

For Abakar, the issue is also about what families can afford to give up to obtain care.

“A patient should not have to choose between seeking medical care and being able to feed their family,” he said.

From pilot to wider network

Telemedan began as a pilot and has expanded with support from grants and institutional partnerships, including Chad’s Ministry of Public Health and Prevention.

Abakar said the initiative now has 37 kiosks across 11 provinces and has reached an estimated 143,000 people.

Telemedan has also begun using artificial intelligence to help screen for diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that can damage vision. The initiative says the technology is intended to assist healthcare professionals rather than replace them.

But a remote consultation has limits.

A kiosk cannot provide emergency treatment or perform every examination. Patients who need specialist care, laboratory tests, medicines or hospital treatment still have to reach the next level of the health system.

Can the kiosks last?

Telemedan’s expansion comes as Chad develops its wider digital health system.

Youssouf Silay, an assistant to the coordinator of Chad’s National Digital Health Programme, told Al Jazeera that the country’s National Health Development Plan for 2022–2030 identifies digital health as a way to expand access to care.

Chad established the National Telemedicine Programme in 2021 and launched its National Digital Health Programme in 2023, Youssouf said. The Ministry of Health is also developing a legal and regulatory framework for digital health services.

“The objective is to promote innovative solutions that can improve access to healthcare, particularly in areas with limited medical and energy infrastructure,” Youssouf told Al Jazeera. “Solutions such as solar-powered telemedicine kiosks can contribute to this effort by bringing healthcare services closer to underserved populations.”

But putting a kiosk in a village is only the beginning.

The equipment has to keep working. Connectivity has to be available. Local operators need training. Doctors need to be there when patients call. And people who need care beyond the kiosk need a way to reach it.

Each kiosk costs about $10,000, according to Abakar. Telemedan sells the units to governments, public health programmes and partner organisations, which then operate them. The model means patients are not paying for the infrastructure itself.

Telemedan says it wants to reach one million people in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

A solar-powered kiosk cannot replace a hospital. It cannot replace a doctor in every circumstance.

But it can shorten the distance between a patient and the health system.

“We want Telemedan to become a sustainable layer of healthcare infrastructure, not simply a collection of technology projects,” Abakar told Al Jazeera.

For years, the day in Kulak ended when the generator powered down. Like thousands of villages across Iraq, this small farming community in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region lived to the faltering rhythm of an erratic power supply: a few hours of electricity, then the water pumps stopped, refrigerators warmed and children put down their books.

Today, Kulak runs on the sun. Solar panels harness its energy, batteries store the excess and residents have power 24/7. The change is visible beyond the homes: water pumps keep running, and cold storage gives farmers more control over when they sell their harvest.

This is the part of the energy transition the global climate conversation too often overlooks. Solar hardware is cheap; the world has learned how to install it. What matters is what comes after the panels go up: building the local capacity to keep the systems running and using reliable power to support farms, livelihoods and communities.

The energy transition will not be won in conference halls. It will be won, or lost, in places like Kulak.

Iraq’s rural energy crisis

Iraq’s energy story is usually told as a paradox. It is one of the world’s great oil producers, yet rural communities still endure daily power cuts. Summers now regularly push past 50 degrees, and the United Nations ranks Iraq among the nations most vulnerable to climate change. Drought has emptied farmland. Heat has made whole regions harder to live in. Rural families face a quiet, grinding choice between staying on land that can no longer sustain them or joining the drift towards overcrowded cities.

These pressures do not respect provincial boundaries. They are shared across Iraq, from the marshes of the south to the mountains of the north. They demand responses that work for the whole country.

For remote communities, decentralised power should not simply be treated as a stopgap while they wait for the grid. It can be part of the long-term answer.

Beyond electrification

Kulak is one of five villages in the Kurdistan region electrified through a solar initiative that pairs new infrastructure with local training and agricultural development. Residents are trained to operate and maintain their own systems, while research is under way into how reliable power can support local production.

Energy is treated not as a gift to be received but as an asset to be managed. That means looking beyond electricity itself to what it can enable: cold storage that allows farmers to hold their harvest for better prices, irrigation that no longer depends on diesel and processing that adds value before crops ever leave the village.

That distinction matters, because the graveyard of development is full of well-intentioned infrastructure. Anyone who has worked in this field has seen the solar array gathering dust because no one was trained to fix an inverter, or the water project abandoned when the foreign NGO moved on.

Sustainability is not a slogan; it is a design choice. Building local capability into a project from day one is the difference between a photo opportunity and a future.

Building the transition from the ground up

There is a broader argument here for the climate movement.

The energy transition is overwhelmingly narrated from the top down: through COP plenaries, G7 communiques and the financing pledges of wealthy nations, many of them unmet. Yet for hundreds of millions of people in the Global South, the transition will arrive, if it arrives at all, through decentralised solutions built close to the ground.

Rural Iraq will not wait decades for grid expansion to reach every valley. It does not have to. Distributed solar suits these communities better than centralised generation ever did, while local institutions can move at a speed that multilateral programmes rarely match.

There is also a quieter point about who gets to act on climate.

The prevailing image of climate action in the Middle East is the megaproject: vast desert solar farms, futuristic cities and sovereign wealth funds. Those have their place. But electrifying farming villages one by one represents a different kind of ambition, one rooted in the belief that Iraqis themselves, in all their diversity, can build the country’s energy future rather than wait for it to be delivered.

Local involvement matters particularly in places where reliable electricity is tied not only to household comfort but to whether farms can irrigate crops, preserve produce and remain economically viable.

Iraq has thousands of rural communities, and scaling this model will require partners, patient financing and supportive policy at every level of government. The agricultural research is promising but young.

On my last visit to Kulak, I was struck less by the panels than by what surrounded them: the cold store, the working pumps, the sense of a community planning for next season rather than next month.

The lights staying on is the least of it. What has really been switched on is the future tense.

If Iraq’s energy transformation is built like this across the whole country, village by village and from the ground up, it will be more durable than anything imposed from above. That means investing not only in the systems themselves, but in the people who will maintain them and the farms, businesses and livelihoods that reliable power can support.

The world’s climate diplomats could do worse than pay attention.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.