From Rwanda to Riverside, California: How the US solar industry gave opportunities to an immigrant entrepreneur
When Covid-19 hit his small solar engineering business, chief executive Methode Maniraguha said: ‘No furloughs or layoffs – we’ll pivot.’
ArcelorMittal seeks solar PPAs for 150 MW in South Africa
The steel manufacturer aims to sign power purchase agreements for six operational sites in Vanderbijlpark, Newcastle, Vereeniging, Pretoria, Thabazimbi and Saldanha.
PV mini-grid to back Congolese agriculture
Equatorial Power and SustainSolar are installing containerized, off-grid solar battery power systems to support farming projects on an island in Lake Kivu.
Burkina Faso kicks off ‘Solar Cluster’ plan
The West African nation is launching a capacity-building program to create an ‘ecosystem’ of PV and energy-efficiency businesses. The Green Climate Fund is providing access to international finance.
Sub-Saharan solar minigrid market worth $128 billion by 2030
BloombergNEF and Sustainable Energy for All have jointly published a report by the Mini-Grid Partnership proposing solar minigrids as a critical technology to bring electricity to the 789 million people who still lack access.
Shielding PV against Earth’s magnetic field
Researchers in Kenya are seeking to reduce the influence of the Geomagnetic field on PV panel performance by replacing aluminum module frames with a steel cage. They have specified they have been unable to quantify costs related to the solution, and that more research is needed.
Kenya’s largest dairy producer wants to buy solar
New Kenya Cooperative Creameries has finalized the preliminary phase of a tender to buy electricity from a solar facility that will be built at its new KCC Sotik Factory. The installation is expected to cover around 40% of the site’s power needs.
Premature inverter failure – 4.2 GW of capacity will be affected this year, says analyst
U.S.-owned business intelligence firm Wood Mackenzie has attempted to evaluate the market opportunities offered by the repowering of solar projects around the world which feature inverters which are 10 years old – as well as those which will expire ahead of time.
Mauritian fund invests $3 million in P2P solar specialist Sun Exchange
Sun Exchange has closed a $4 million Series-A funding round by obtaining a $3 million investment from ARPF, a Mauritian private equity fund. The peer-to-peer solar leasing platform said it will use the funds to help its members deploy solar solutions across sub-Saharan Africa.
Kenyan floating solar crowdfunding bid could again end up smelling of roses
German company Ecoligo is offering micro investment in the construction of a 69 kW floating solar plant on the reservoir of a flower farm.
