Friday, 29 July

Dear <<First Name>>

REPP’s latest quarterly impact report was published this week, showing another productive period for the Camco-managed platform. This is particularly so in the solar mini-grids space, which has seen construction begin on two new mini-grids in Lesotho, the commissioning of another in Sierra Leone and very rapid progress on a 49-mini-grid project in Sierra Leone and Uganda. The number of people connected to electricity through REPP-supported projects – which passed one million in Q1 – has also continued to grow quickly, with more than 70,000 people connected over the last quarter alone.

Being able to show the positive impact of the work that we are doing with our partners is very satisfying and certainly motivates me personally to want to do more. But I am the first to recognise just how far the sector still needs to go to bring about a clean and fair energy transition for all.

To make this happen doesn’t just require huge investment, but building the capacity of local developers and adapting the ways the sector is working to suit local environments and meet the needs of communities to maximise the benefits of clean energy. And this means disrupting the status quo that exists within energy sector development in developing and emerging markets.

That’s why I was so keen to take part recently in Indigenous Clean Energy's Decolonizing Power podcast series, which aims to showcase inspiring stories about indigenous and community-led clean energy projects from around the world. Speaking alongside my colleague Ieva Indriunaite, we talk about Camco’s approach to clean energy financing and how by doing things differently we have been able to provide energy access solutions tailored to the needs of communities while securing clean returns for investors. If you want to take a listen, click here.


Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

West Africa

Ghana: Political realities undercut electricity reforms (The Conversation)
- Op-ed exploring how implementing a one-size-fits-all reform model to its electricity sector has led to a surplus of energy that is costing the government an estimated 5% of GDP.

Mali: Hybrid solar plant commissioned (Afrik21)
- Vivi Energy's 3.9MW plant will supply power to the Nampala gold mine located in the Niono circle and operated by Robex Resources.

Nigeria: Energy access project launches (Afrik21)
- The Nigerian part of the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access project has officially launched, aiming to increase electrification rates through green mini-grids. 

East Africa

Kenya: The International Monetary Fund blocks further power price cuts (Nation)
- The international lender has blocked cuts due to concerns around the potential collapse of Kenya Power as a result of its current cash flow struggles. 

Kenya: The Kenya Tea Development Agency commissions its fourth hydropower plant (ESI Africa)
- The company has continued to invest in renewables since launching its first plant in 2008 as a means to increase clean energy access for tea farmers whilst cutting electricity costs. 

Kenya/Uganda: New dam project to provide electricity and water (Afrik21)
- Work has started on the Angolo Multipurpose Water Resources Development Project, which includes the construction of a dam that will supply five towns across the two countries.

Mozambique: SNV and Ignite Power partner for solar kit distribution (Afrik21)
- The Dutch organisation has signed an agreement with the electricity access provider, covering the distribution of 300,000 systems in areas lacking connection to the country’s national grid. 
 
Zambia: Country exceeds energy target with 1,156MW electricity generation surplus (Economist)
- The Zambian government has confirmed that the surplus, the result of a newly constructed power plant, will be used to fulfill power agreements with Namibia and Zimbabwe. 

Southern Africa

South Africa: Country to ‘open floodgates’ for private power generation (Bloomberg)
- In an attempt to resolve chronic power shortages, the South African government plans to make it easier for private companies to build plants and pay households and businesses to produce electricity from solar panels. 

South Africa: Enel Green commissions wind farm in Northern Cape (Afrik21)
- The IPP is commissioning its 147MW Soetwater farm, which is equipped with 36 wind turbines and feeds clean energy into the Eskom grid. 

South Africa: The Department of Public Works Infrastructure (DPWI) to publish RFP (Engineering News)
- The DWPI will soon issue an RFP for the start of the Integreated Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme (iREREP). 

Africa - other

Climate finance: AfDB and IMF highlight urgency of green financing (AfDB)
- At the 2022 African Economic Outlook event, experts from both organisations stressed the importance of mobilising USD1.6 trillion by 2030. 

Climate finance: Change required in development finance strategy to reach net zero (AdDB)
- At the recent OPEC Fund’s inaugural Development Forum, AfDB Director General for Southern Africa, Leila Mokaddem, told participants that creating fiscal space for finance and boosting regional infrastructure projects will be essential to achieve climate targets.

Climate finance: Decarbonisation projects to benefit from German funding (Zawya)
- Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action will provide EUR126 million for 14 ongoing projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Climate finance: FMO and British International Investment commit USD126 million to fund (FMO)
- The African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4 qualifies under the 2X Challenge and aims to boost renewable energy, digital infrastructure, mobility and logistics sectors across the continent.

Egypt: Solariz to supply renewable energy to factories in Cairo (Afrik21)
- Swedish appliances manufacturer Electrolux is entering into a 25-year partnership with Solariz for the installation of solar PV plants, which will supply its factories with an estimated 1,680 MWh of clean energy per year.

Energy access: Continent unifies for common position on energy access (KBC)
- The African Union Council has adopted the Africa Common Position on Energy Access and Just Transition, which charts development pathways to achieve universal energy access and transition without compromising on its development imperatives.

Morocco: EBRD and CTF finance wind farm extension (Afrik21)
- The two financers will provide EUR53.5 million in funding to the country for the modernisation and expansion of the Nassim Koudia Al Baida wind farm.

Morocco: NTPC partners with the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (RenewablesNow)
- The Indian state-run energy company has signed a MoU with the company to explore joint opportunities to develop renewable energy projects on the continent.  

Renewables: Index highlights Africa’s potential (Zawya)
- The Energy Transition Readiness Index for the Middle East and Africa, launched by Siemens Energy and Roland Berger, indicates that the two regions are jointly well-positioned to become a dominant future supplier of clean energy to global markets. 

Solar: d.light raises USD50 million to support African expansion (Afrik21)
- The solar home systems distributor has locked in funding from a consortium of funders including SunFunder, TDB and FMO. 

Pacific

Australia: Country sees job growth potential of climate emergency (Reuters)
- The new Labour government has introduced legislation to spell out an emissions reduction target and Minister for Climate and Energy Chris Bowen has said that Australia is “open for business” and could become a renewable energy powerhouse.

Fiji: COP26 President visits country to maintain climate action momentum (Pina)
- Earlier this week, Alok Sharma visited Fiji to see the impacts of climate change on the Pacific region.

New Zealand: Government to limit free Emissions Trading Scheme credits (RNZ)
- Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced plans to change the baseline rates used to calculate the allocation of free climate credits to the country’s businesses under the scheme. 

Rest of the world

Solar: Power equipment prices continue to rise (Bloomberg)
- Equipment manufacturers have continued to lift prices this week as skyrocketing polysilicon costs spread throughout the supply chain and are likely to sedate renewable energy deployment.

US: Clean energy installations plunge (Bloomberg)
- Renewable energy installations in the country have fallen to an almost three-year low due to trade disputes, uncertain policy and supply chain issues. 

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