Friday, 20 August

Dear <<First Name>>

Earlier this week it was announced that a ground-breaking operation to hybridise three heavy fuel oil (HFO) plants in Madagascar with solar PV is underway, thanks to a USD 6 million bridge loan from REPP.

Currently, around three quarters of Madagascar’s power is generated from non-renewable sources, such as HFO and diesel plants. Hybridising fossil-fuel plants with solar not only serves to reduce emissions, but also makes single energy sources more climate resilient against availability of supply and increases energy security through diversification.

Developer LIDERA Green Power’s project is doing just that by adding 42MW of solar PV to hybridise three HFO plants and it is the first large-scale project of its kind in the island country. The project is expected to deliver socio-economic benefits to Madagascar’s economy and population, by reducing the country’s reliance on expensive HFO and providing job opportunities during the construction and operation of the plants.

REPP’s loan has enabled LIDERA to fund the construction of the first phase of the project and provide a proof of concept to encourage other lenders to support the development and construction of the second and much larger phase. 

HFO plants are an ecological disaster and bring with them a considerable cost burden that stifles economic growth. In response to LIDERA’s need we were able to design a suitable financing structure that has enabled the company to move quickly ahead with its plans and which is replicable to all other HFO plants across Madagascar.

I hope that this landmark deal will now pave the way for many similar projects providing lasting benefits to the Malagasy people.

Cheers

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

West Africa

Côte d’Ivoire: Green Energy for African Citizens initiative calls for expressions of interest (Afrik21)
- The programme started by the GIZ and KfW aims to provide performance based financial incentives for the sale and installation of solar systems for productive use.

Southern Africa

South Africa: Eskom to retire up to 12GW of coal capacity by 2031 (Afrik21)
- Three coal plants will be permanently closed by 2025 and the national utility is set to invest USD10 billion in clean energy technologies.

South Africa: Revego Africa Energy purchases stake in three wind farms from Metier (Afrik21)
- The acquisition of shares in these facilities, located in the Northern Cape with a total capacity of 360MW, forms part of Revego’s strategy for expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa.

South Africa: Eskom CEO shares vision for a greener Eskom and cleaner energy industry (ESI)
- In an online video lecture, De Ruyter spoke on the importance of pivoting away from carbon intensive generation and how this transition could be accelerated by increased funding.

Zimbabwe: Schweppes Zimbabwe commissions 500kW ground-mounted solar facility (Energy Mix Report)
- The facility will power operations at the Beitbridge juice plant and agreements are being finalised with ZETDC on feeding power to the national grid.

Africa - general

General: AfDB reaches financial close on Covid-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform (ESI)
- Financing agreements have concluded with the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa for USD20 million in concessional investment.

General: Africa’s first renewable energy yieldco receives USD34 million investment (ESI)
- UK Climate Investments fulfilled its cornerstone commitment into the yieldco that will be managed by Revego Fund Managers.

General: Success factors for transforming energy access markets with Results-based Financing (Sun-Connect)
- A sample of 17 projects under the EnDev programme has produced valuable lessons for each project stage.

Rest of World

General: World’s first fossil fuel free steel delivered (ESI)
- Steel company SSAB has successfully produced the world's first fossil fuel free steel, representing proof that it is possible to significantly reduce the industry’s global carbon footprint.

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