Engie

Across Africa, rooftop solar is stepping in to fill the void as fears of non-payment and inflation-reduced donor funding dampen enthusiasm for big solar. Commercial and industrial (C&I) arrays are leading the charge, driving consolidation in markets overstocked with startup and mid-size installers.

Charles Lesser, who leads UK operations at Apricum, and Apricum Project Manager Alexandra Popova explain why the renewables consultancy is predicting a big rise in solar-plus-storage projects in Great Britain.

MySol Grid Zambia, a subsidiary of Engie Energy Access (EEA), has secured $7.5 million of debt from the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI) to build 60 minigrids. The projects will provide electricity to more than 40,000 people in rural areas.

Engie Chile’s largest solar park, in Chile’s Antofagasta region, will have a 638 MWh storage system, currently under construction.

The European Investment Bank says a new €10 million ($10.5 million) loan will offer electricity access to almost 650,000 people in Benin.

French energy giants TotalEnergies and Engie are reportedly interesting in acquiring GreenYellow.

A group of companies comprising Akuo Energy, Amarenco, BayWa re, EDF Renouvelables, Enel Green Power, Engie, Iberdrola and Vattenfall has sent a letter to the European Commission to ask for a strategy to build up a continental PV supply chain.

Electric transmission company Elia Group noted a bigger slice of the generation mix occupied by nuclear last year, just hours after a London-based consultant said the nation was on track to switch off its reactors before 2026.

Engie unit Tractebel is developing the technology. Elsewhere, the European Commission has approved, under state aid rules, a €900 million German scheme to support investment in green hydrogen production for EU consumption and Spanish company H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies is developing a project to generate up to 1,000kg per day of electrolytic hydrogen in California.

The weighted average cost of the electricity to be generated by the latest 975 MW fleet of solar projects procured by a national tender program has fallen more than 50% from the level recorded in the last such exercise, which was abandoned six years ago.