Friday, 16 April

Dear <<First Name>>

In last week’s welcome I was talking about Island Finance Forum 2021, which has been taking place virtually across the world over the last four days. So today I thought I’d give a short follow-up...

To recap, the Forum was put on by Island Innovation to highlight and explore the unique financial challenges faced by island states and the solutions for a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery from COVID-19. At the last count, more than 5,400 people had signed up to attend, including several island prime ministers, sustainability leaders, development experts and senior financiers.

The Forum has provided a rare opportunity for leaders in sustainability and the blue economy from across the world to meet and converse on today’s biggest. Over the week there has been much consensus as to the shared challenges in building out a more sustainable, low-carbon future - and I hope that others attendees will share my sense of positivity and grounded optimism for good things to come off the back of it.

For my part, I had the honour of taking part in a very enjoyable and productive roundtable discussion yesterday on Financing the Green Energy Transition and Low-Carbon Infrastructure. 

That discussion was one of many important sessions held this week to further conversations around sustainable and inclusive financial structures in island communities. If you want to watch any of those sessions you will find links on the Forum’s webpage.

Finally, a big thank you to Island Innovation for putting on such an interesting and important event!

Cheers

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

West Africa

Ghana: Puma Energy launches 11 solar projects to power 14 service stations (ESI)
- These projects will have a combined capacity of 422kWp with a combined battery capacity of 224kWh, which will cover all of the fuels retailer's stations' electricity needs. 

Mali: Suntrace and BayWa connect 30MWp hybrid solar plant to Fekola gold mine (Afrik21)
- The facility contains a 15.4MWh battery storage system with all work due for completion by June 2021.

Togo: Togolese president signs agreement with AFD to electrify 53 localities (Afrik21)
- EUR75 million agreement with the AFD will kick-off the implementation of the Programme for the Extension of the Electricity Network in Togo’s Urban Centres (Perecut).

East Africa

Ethiopia: Egypt and Sudan reject Ethiopian proposals for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (Engineering News)
- Proposals that centered around sharing data between countries were rejected on the basis of being too selective.

Seychelles: Islands Development Company launches solar farms on two islands (ESI)
- The two facilities, 150kWp and 250kWp respectively, will supply the majority of power to the islands of Astove and Farquhar.

Uganda: National utility Umeme reports USD27 million loss due to power theft (ESI)
- This figure represents the first quarter of the year and 18% of the total electricity procured.

Southern Africa

Malawi: Phanes Group launches construction of first phase of 21MWp solar plant in Nkhotakota (Afrik21)
- The two-phase project is being developed in partnership with responsAbility Renewable Energy Holding (rARAH) and will eventually have a total capacity of 37MWp.

Malawi: Recently developed tool highlights ESCOM’s exceptional payment record to IPP (ESI)
- The Transparency Tool, developed by the ATI and KfW, is an online platform used to address the perceived poor payment behaviour of African power utilities.

South Africa: Sasol and Air Liquide launch tender for 600MW of renewable power (Afrik21)
- The acquired energy will be used to power the operations of both companies in the Secunda site. Interested parties have until 23 April to apply.

Africa - general

Off-grid: Major shift in funding for off-grid projects observed (PV-Magazine)
- Although the pandemic has had negative consequences for the industry, several new shifts have been noticed that are indicative of positive sentiments. These include West Africa's rise in popularity for investment and an overall increase in the amount invested in the sector.

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