North Korea is increasingly turning to solar power to help meet its energy needs, as the isolated regime 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, according to the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington.
This 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. Larger solar installations have also sprung up at factories and government buildings over the past decade.