Rwanda

Commercial and industrial clients across the continent are turning to solar amid fears ever more cash-strapped conventional electricity companies will be unable to invest in their creaking grids, an online event has heard.

The Development Bank of Rwanda wants to finance developers to build photovoltaic and mini-grids ranging in size from 10 kW to 1 MW.

Swedish platform Trine, which offers people the chance to invest in solar from as little as €25, has announced plans to generate €5 million credit for South African solar leasing partner Solarise Africa.

A report commissioned by EU lender the EIB has dismissed the role solar mini-grids can play in achieving universal electrification by 2030 and signaled distribution to individual households should be the way forward, including sales to the residents of UN refugee camps in East Africa.

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.

Nigeria and Ghana-based Starsight Energy has spent an undisclosed amount to acquire a half stake in the Kenyan subsidiary of East African peer Premier Solar Group.

Patrik Huber, co-founder and managing director for East Africa at renewables leasing company Solarise Africa, has spoken to pv magazine about the company’s take on how the region can prime for a green recovery. Huber explained Solarise’s contribution to the recovery includes recent expansion into three new countries.

The Kenyan financial services business has been developing rural mini grids across Africa and has announced plans to show its rivals how such networks can thrive, in a bid to accelerate access to electricity on the continent.

Pan-African developer and financier of distributed infrastructure projects, Ignite Power is providing solar solutions to many low-income rural dwellers in Rwanda through its ‘Extreme Affordability Plan’, setting the Eastern African country on course to achieve its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2035.

When Covid-19 hit his small solar engineering business, chief executive Methode Maniraguha said: ‘No furloughs or layoffs – we’ll pivot.’