Friday, 20 May

Dear <<First Name>>

I am thrilled to tell you that Camco has signed into a new partnership agreement that will see us taking an instrumental role in developing renewable energy infrastructure to support fragile states in Africa. 

The deal with Energy Peace Partners (EPP) means that, as of this week, Camco is the manager of the USD 10.25 million Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-REC) Aggregation Fund. 
 
If you are not already familiar with P-RECs, they are international renewable energy certificates (I-RECs) with a supplementary label from EPP, as the issuer, certifying the co-benefits associated with new renewable energy generation in countries that are fragile, climate vulnerable and energy poor. 
 
Under Camco's management, the Fund will leverage P-RECs to increase access to finance and unlock USD 90 million for high impact renewable energy projects in the hardest-to-reach markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an initial focus on DRC, South Sudan, Chad, Somalia and Uganda. The USD 10.25m pilot phase – being raised as a mix of first-loss grants and concessional capital - is projected to support the deployment of 57MW of new renewable energy capacity, providing energy access to 325,000 households, creating 10,000 jobs and avoiding 650,000 tons of GHG emissions. 

When I first got involved with RECs in the early noughties, the market was comparatively small and unsophisticated. The introduction of P-RECs is a sign of just how far things have since developed and innovated, and I am personally excited to start working with Sherwin Das and the rest of the EPP team to help build demand for P-RECs and bring about a brighter future for some of the world’s most at risk communities. 

Cheers

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

P.S. The Camco team is meeting up for its annual get together next week so there will be no newsletter on Friday.

West Africa

Côte d’Ivoire: Country looks to energy storage systems to diversify grid (ESI Africa)
- The nation's first large-scale solar power plant to be built will integrate a 10MW energy storage system for smooth grid integration.

Côte d’Ivoire: Saft to store electricity for Boundiali solar plant (Afrik 21)
- The TotalEnergies subsidiary has been awarded a contract to install the planned 37.5MWp plant’s electricity storage system.

Liberia: Nation suspends import tariffs on off-grid solar products (ESI Africa)
- The Liberian President has issued Executive Order #107, ceasing tariffs on off-grid lighting appliances, equipment and system components that directly relate to energy development under the Tariff Numbers of the Liberia Revenue Code.

Nigeria: Entrepreneur builds solar-powered mini-buses (Reuters)
-  Mustapha Gajibo is building the vehicles in an attempt to promote renewable energy and reduce pollution. 

Senegal: Africa GreenTec continues its West African expansion (Afrik 21)
- The German start-up has commissioned an ImpactSite in the village of Ndiob, equipped with a 50kWp solar photovoltaic system. 

East Africa

Mauritius: Energy sector highlighted as government priority (ESI Africa)
- Minister Lesjongard has stated that during a recent policy dialogue focused on energy, water and wastewater, energy remained the leading topic.

Rwanda: President Kagame shares his perspective on achieving SDG 7 (ESI Africa)
- At the recent SEforALL Forum, Kagame emphasised the need to integrate industrial policies with sustainable energy policy to fuel future industries and highlighted that transitioning to renewable energy was vital. 

Seychelles: Gridworks and SPS train solar professionals (Afrik 21)
- The government is partnering with the investor and solar energy provider to launch a training programme, with the aim to accelerate the deployment of solar systems in the archipelago. 

Tanzania: CMR installs 1MWp of solar power in Zanzibar (Afrik 21)
- The French group has installed three solar systems across Mango Tree Beach properties to reduce the hotel chain’s environmental impact. 

Uganda: Country plans to build its first nuclear power plant (Construction Kenya)
- The International Atomic Energy Agency has endorsed the country’s plan to build the plant, which would increase its electricity generation capacity by nearly 14 times.

Southern Africa

South Africa: Country requires substantial funding for clean hydrogen plan (Bloomberg)
-  The head of the South African government’s climate finance task team has said that the nation will need to fundraise USD14 billion to develop a substantial green hydrogen strategy.

South Africa: Country experiences another week of evening load-shedding (Eyewitness News)
- National utility Eskom announced stage four load-shedding, claiming that the grid remains vulnerable after struggling to bring its generating units back to service.

South Africa: Provinces offered help to process EIAs (Engineering News)
- Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy says she has written to provincial environmental MECs to enquire whether they require assistance in processing environmental impact assessments for 100MW embedded projects.
 

Africa - other

Egypt: Country calls for unified African position on climate and energy (Asharq Al-Awsat)
- In preparation for COP27, Egypt has urged the African states to hold a coordination meeting to ensure that the continent is aligned on its stance.

Egypt: EBRD lends USD4.8 million for private sector energy transition (Afrik 21)
- The European bank has approved a loan for Intro Sustainable Resources and Intro Solar to fund the financing of efficiency projects and the clean energy transition of the private sector.

Eqypt: Government signs MoU with E3i for solid waste treatment (Zawya)
- A plant will be built under the MoU to convert waste to biofuel and graphene through the use of eco-friendly and safe technologies.

Egypt: Lafarge and Lumika Renewables partner on green deal (Zawya)
- The two entities have signed a USD93 million deal to supply electricity to a Lafarge cement plant from 2024, marking one of the largest renewable energy projects for a C&I customer in the country.

Egypt: Major groups to invest USD10 billion in green hydrogen by 2030 (Afrik 21)
- The government has given permission for several major players, who are expected to invest in the Suez Canal Economy Zone, to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives in the country. 

Finance: Afreximbank and APPO establish African energy bank (Energy Capital & Power)
- The multi-billion-dollar bank will finance new and existing oil and gas projects, as well as energy developments across the entire value chain.

Green hydrogen: Six African countries form alliance (Engineering News)
-  Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Egypt, Morocco and Mauritiana have launched the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance, with the aim of making the continent a front-runner in the race to develop green hydrogen.
 
Morocco: Octopus Energy invests in power link (Power Technology)
- The UK-based renewable energy group has announced a financial and strategic partnership with Xlinks to build a subsea interconnector cable to deliver 3.6GW of clean energy from a facility in the Moroccan desert to Devon.

North Africa: Plan to import hydrogen from North Africa is unrealistic (ESI Africa)
- Research commissioned by the Transnational Institution and the Corporate Europe Observatory posits that the EU’s strategy to import significant amounts of hydrogen from North African is not viable as it would divert clean electricity from local needs.

South Sudan: Country enters into electricity supply MoU with Ethiopia (The East African)
- Ethiopian Electric Power has agreed to export an additional 100MW of electricity to South Sudan over the next three years, progressing its plan to become the biggest regional clean energy exporter.

Pacific

Climate change: Save the Children signs deal to lead on climate change adaption (Reliefweb)
- The child rights organisation has announced a USD32 million climate finance deal with the Green Climate Fund and the governments of Vanuatu and Australia to help the region adapt.   

Renewables: Pacific Island nations want more renewable power (Grist)
- Opinion piece explains that Pacific states have been aware of the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy and are advocating for nations such as the US and China to make good on promises made at UN conferences.

New Zealand: Zenobe Energy expands into the country (Electrive)
- The UK electric vehicle and battery storage specialist has announced plans to enter the New Zealand market, thanks to a USD20 million investment from New Zealand Green Investment Finance.

New Zealand: How the country could become a world leader in decarbonisation (The Conversation)
- Opinion piece argues that the country could utilise forestry and geothermal technology that both generates electricity and removes carbon dioxide form the atmosphere.

Rest of the world

Climate change: Critical climate indicators broke records in 2021 (The Guardian)
- The UN World Meteorological Organisation claims that these record levels are a clear sign of humanity’s impact on the planet and that the resulting extreme weather wreaked heavy toll on human lives.
 

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