Community

The international development entity has already invested $1 billion in local, off-grid electricity networks over the last decade – and attracted a further $1.1 billion in matched funding – and has predicted mini-grids could supply electricity to 490 million people by 2030.

A decade on from energy rationing, head of state Sheikh Hasina is poised to announce the achievement of an historic goal which has been made possible with the help of off-grid photovoltaics.

The European Commission yesterday announced its intent to remove demand for two-thirds of its Russian gas supply in less than nine months and hugely accelerating the rate of solar deployment is a central part of its radically raised clean energy ambition.

The government of the state of Victoria will fund a floating PV array and an initiative to locally manufacture solar batteries and install a portable renewable energy system for community services during emergencies, as part of its Latrobe Valley program.

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have fabricated an integrated fully PV-powered system to extract fresh water from the atmosphere. The system uses excess heat from the solar modules to evaporate and condense water that can then be used to grow crops. Part of the water is also used to cool down the solar modules through an active cooling technique.

The 22 nations which have had their “recovery and resilience” spending plans approved by the European Commission are set to devote billions to clean energy facilities, with the cash set to be disbursed in three payments to the end of next year.

The device integrates various current outlets that enable it to recharge, simultaneously, mobile phones, tablets or computers as well as all kinds of low-consumption electronic devices such as small appliances or electric tools, by simply unfolding the solar panels and connecting them.

A business based at a Namibian mine has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement which will back the construction of a 5.4MW solar project. Elsewhere, the AfDB wants to roll-out solar panels to provide electricity access to six million people across six nations over the next six years.

The deployment of standalone power systems in Australia’s National Electricity Market is expected to accelerate, as the Australian Energy Market Commission has published new rules allowing distributors to install renewables-based technologies in the nation’s five market jurisdictions.

The prime minister of the South American nation, one of the most recent arrivals to the club of oil-producing states, has spelled out how his country plans to move to a low-carbon economy.