Minigrid

U.S.-owned, Nairobi-based mini-grid developer PowerGen has already rolled out seven local solar networks in the West African country, funded by equity investors who will recoup their cash when all 28 systems are sold to CrossBoundary Energy Access.

Some 22 villages in Busia county will receive a total of 7,000 electricity connection points plus solar-powered street lighting and water services after InfraCo Africa invested $4.2 million acquiring 40% of developer Kudura Power East Africa.

Smart Power India, a unit of the Rockefeller Foundation, has supported the installation of 9.2 MW of renewables-based minigrids at more than 300 sites across India. Jaideep Mukherjee, CEO of SPI, recently spoke to pv magazine about the importance of minigrids and barriers to deployment.

The Greek Ministry of the Environment and Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with a clutch of private companies to turn the small Aegean island of Halki green as a demonstration of the effectiveness of its planned GR-Eco Islands Initiative.

Lack of grid capacity and renewable energy institutions are a common lament in sub-Saharan Africa but there is no lack of cash to invest, nor eligible projects in East Africa, as a recent event heard; the problem lies in marrying the two.

The funds will be used to implement the country’s Large Scale Solar and Rural Electrification Project. They will also support the government in outlining an upcoming tender for 325 MW of solar coupled with 335 MWh of storage capacity.

With ‘shovel-ready’ projects across India, Africa and Latin America in line for a mix of grants, cheap loans, equity investment and financial guarantees from this year, the two bodies hope to trigger $20 billion in total funding and bring reliable power to a billion people.

A Spanish renewable energy company has installed its first, pilot mobile PV unit at a new detention center in Chile.

Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.

Remote grids provide enhanced reliability, lower risk profiles, and lower total costs than existing distribution lines.