Building off of John McCain’s plans for a $300 million prize for the first car battery 30% more efficient than existing technologies—a cost of roughly $1 per American—Kenyan Journalist Sam Aola Ooko has proposed a staggering $800 million dollar prize—just under $1 per African—for a sustainable energy solution for the continent, which includes some of the world's most impoverished regions.

Aola Ooko’s idea takes additional inspiration from the fact that even a minute portion of the sunlight that bathes the Sahara desert could meet the energy needs for all of developed Europe. Imagine the mileage such a power supply could have feeding the lightly-consuming economies in developing nations across the African continent. 

Africa’s lack of development actually lowers many of the hurdles that can block energy adaptation on more modernized continents. There’s little or no existing infrastructure that has to be accommodated, and very little of the existing economy relies on established energy technologies. Indeed, the United Nations Environment Programme recently described sub-Saharan Africa as “arguably the region that has the most to gain from renewable energy” in the entire world. 

While the humanitarian gains from clean, reliable and local energy would be immense, they might in time pale in comparison to the economic benefits. After centuries of colonialism and continued exploitation by European countries and corporations, political instability has dogged the African continent. In a world where energy is becoming ever more valuable as a commodity, self-generated, self-managed energy production could give African nations an economic backbone to provide services to their citizens and rein in the corruption that continues to hamstring economic development and cause political unrest across much of the continent. 

But the lack of development that makes clean energy such a powerful solution also comes with some challenges. A dearth of high-tech manufacturing facilities makes higher tech solutions such as composite-bladed wind turbines or cutting edge photovoltaics difficult to come by, and large-scale importation may only further the economic problems facing the continent. Likelier solutions may come from concentrated solar power, with relies on simple mirrored surfaces and pressurized water to deliver electricity.

Regardless of how the problem is eventually solved, it’s clear the African continent offers an immense opportunity to prove the benefits clean energy can provide humanity. A hefty prize to whoever can deliver this solution reliably and cost-effectively will only hasten the arrival of such a development, and should be considered a priority for the UN, African Union, and all other world organizations seeking a more stable planet, powered by more sustainable energy.

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 Photo by Flickr user Lollie-Pop