Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank has issued a tender for consultancy services for Uganda’s Electricity Access Scale-up Project (EASP). Backed by World Bank funding, EASP will oversee the deployment of 40 solar energy water supply schemes across the East African country.

The Kenyan authorities have started searching for consultants to offer guidance on the development of a 42.5 MW solar project in Embu County, Kenya.

Thresholding methods have commonly been used to characterize the soiling accumulated on glass coupons. Researchers led by the Sapienza University of Rome have identified 16 automatic thresholding methods that may be used for analyzing soiling on PV panels.

Asantys Systems has developed containerized solar-storage solutions in Sierra Leone, featuring solar containers with capacities ranging from 30 kW to 130 kW. The containers include inverters from German manufacturer SMA and batteries from Hoppecke Batterien.

Globeleq’s acquisition of the 41 MW plant significantly expands its renewable energy footprint in Mozambique. It also comes just weeks after the company began commercial operations at a 19 MW solar and 7 MWh storage project in Cuamba.

RES4Africa Foundation brings attention to the role of solar PV in addressing the water, energy and food crisis in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries. The region is characterised by abundance of sunlight, coupled with scarce availability of agricultural land and freshwater resources to feed its fast-growing populations.

A handful of projects are now exploring for “natural” hydrogen, also known as “white” hydrogen. pv magazine speaks with Adam Bumby, associate professor of structural geology at the University of Pretoria, about the HyAfrica project and the geological strata and structures that are most suitable for hydrogen storage.

Saudi Arabia-based energy developer ACWA Power says it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with state-owned utility Eskom for a 442 MW solar facility with 1200 MWh of battery storage in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.

More than 200 entries from across 39 countries made up the field for the pv magazine Awards 2023 and there was genuine innovation on display in all categories. Significant demands have been placed on the solar and energy storage industries in 2023, but that hasn’t stopped the sector from making great leaps in performance. The winners of the pv magazine Awards 2023 serve as shining examples of what can be achieved through a continuous improvement philosophy.

Philippe de Donato and Jacques Pironon, researchers at a French laboratory, are actively searching for white hydrogen in collaboration with gas company Française De l’Énergie. Pironon told pv magazine that they plan to continue exploration next year to confirm their thesis that deeper digging yields more hydrogen.