Sub-Saharan Africa

840 million people still don’t have access to electricity today, according to the World Bank. But the radical decrease in the cost of the green technologies of solar and battery storage provides an unparalleled opportunity to close this gap and achieve universal electricity access by 2030.

The bloc should accelerate investment into mining and processing within its shores, as well as ramping up recycling, according to European employers and trades unions, with coal workers already equipped with the necessary transferable skills.

It is hoped 100% solar home system installation–with householders able to buy, or lease on a PAYG basis–will offer a template for installation in remote communities across Africa.

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 tender is aimed at procuring 2 GW of capacity in response to the chronic short-term electricity supply gap that is affecting the country and its mining sector. The South African government has selected three LNG projects that may secure around 60% of the awarded capacity and several renewable energy projects including solar, wind and storage. The procurement exercise attracted a lowest bid of $ 0.0998/kWh.

The South African Department of Energy has launched yesterday the fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). It seeks to procure 1 GW of PV and 1.6 GW of wind power.

Vanessa Nakate shocked organisers of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue by delivering a speech highlighting how she and a fellow youth activist had to submit their presentations for approval in advance of the event and were banned from criticising any of the politicians involved.

Roof-mounted solar, and even storage systems, provide cheaper power than mains electricity or diesel generation, prompting companies such as Total to install modules at forecourts across the continent.

The monocrystalline facility, planned near the town of Pâ by Swiss-owned developer Urbasolar following a tender, will help the government towards its target of reaching 200 MW of solar capacity this year.

The oversubscribed fund was closed with the help of a commitment by Austria’s national development bank. U.S. and Swedish state-owned lenders and impact investors dominate the pool of contributors to the debt finance, which will fund small-scale installations.