By Doug Peeples

SGN News Editor

A number of those countries are working to adopt several aspects of smart grid to bring their economies out of the muck of troubled histories and into an era of development and smart, sustainable energy futures, even though the odds appear terrible. Several countries on the African continent are taking a chance.

Consider the frequent and long history of violent, bloody insurgencies and civil wars as well as a history of exploitative colonialism that left countries poor, undeveloped and broken. It's hard to imagine those countries working toward smart, sustainable electricity infrastructures when more immediate challenges like providing food and water are in the way.

And most don't have much to work with. What electricity infrastructure they have is inadequate, unreliable and stagnant in the face of a rapidly growing demand.

But some of those countries are taking serious, concrete steps. While our familiar concept of a smart grid may be a long ways off, some African countries are working to take advantage of vast natural resources and smart grid technologies to create an energy future.

And Africa is a potential solar powerhouse for photovoltaic, concentrated and geothermal solar energy production. Also, a lot of major companies and multinational companies in the energy sector think it's worth a shot too: companies like Siemens, Schneider Electric, GE, Alstom, Echelon, Chevron and more – not to mention some homegrown multinationals – are investing.