Sub-Saharan 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.

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.

The government of Côte d’Ivoire aims to facilitate the development of 60 MW of solar at two sites via a new tender. The projects will be built under the World Bank’s Scaling Solar program.

The emirati developer behind the nation’s first private utility scale solar project cited the financial certainty offered by the host government under its national development plan.

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.

Through the tender, the administration of Windhoek wants to build several projects on a build, own, and operate basis.

The island nation’s first utility scale solar park is set to double in size and have energy storage added, with work due to start this month.

The solar facility is intended at reducing the country’s dependency on hydropower, especially during drought periods.

An international research team has designed a residential solar-plus-storage system based on gravity. The system was built with a solar power generator, a bulk booster charge controller, an inverter, a solenoid device, a deep cycle battery, a pulley block, a geared motor, a microcontroller, and wire ropes. Its creators said the system is ideal for regions with high solar radiation. They found that, due to its high electrical requirements, the system needs to rely on high-power solar modules with an output of over 500 W.

The government wants 30% of its power from clean energy sources by 2035 and the 50 MW of solar targeted by the World Bank would make up two-thirds of that ambition.