Friday, 20 November

Dear <<First Name>>

The global transition to a clean energy system is gathering speed. Solar and wind in particular are starting to change the energy - and physical - landscape as prices continue to fall, tech improves and concerns over climate change rise to the top of political and business agendas.

But with every solar park, wind farm and hydro plant installed, it can be easy to forget how much effort goes into turning a germ of an idea into a fully operational facility. This is no more true than in the small-scale renewables sector of many countries in Africa, where barriers to finance, lack of expertise and experience and regulatory constraints are just some of the many hurdles developers often have to overcome to bring viable ideas to fruition. 

Success only comes with dedication, hard work and very often a decent dose of innovation too. And so it was with great pleasure I heard yesterday that Gigawatt Global had won EEP Africa’s Project of the Year award for its grid-connected solar PV project currently under construction in Burundi.

REPP is a proud co-investor in the project and having worked closely with the Gigawatt Global team over the last few years, we know just how richly deserved the award is. Well done to them!

If you want to see what the site is looking like today, we’ve just posted some amazing drone pics here. Please do take a look.

Cheers

Geoff

West Africa

Ghana: Grino installs solar-powered desalination system in Cape Coast (Afrik21)
- The pilot project will provide water to two schools and up to 1,000 people in the local community.

Ghana: IPPs urge ECG and government to settle US$1 billion in debt (Africa Energy Portal)
- IPPs are facing a liquidity crisis and may not be able to guarantee power if the government does not pay outstanding debts.

Mali: 50MW Kita solar facility commissioned by Akuo (Renews.biz)
- The facility will be the largest in West Africa and is expected to create 200 long-term jobs.

East Africa

DRC: Bboxx secures US$4 million loan to accelerate energy access (ESI)
- The loan was provided by the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Access Fund managed by Lions Head Global Partners.

Southern Africa

Angola: ING and DBSA banks finance installation of seven solar plants (Energy Mix Report)
- Plants will have a combined capacity of 370MW with five serving rural areas and two supplying the grid.

Madagascar: Akuo deploys 44 mobile solar units (PV Magazine)
- Each unit contains 200 pre-assembled and pre-wired PV panels and can be deployed in 30 minutes.

Madagascar: Government partners with World Bank to launch US$40 million energy access fund (Bamboo Capital Partners)
- Bamboo Capital Partners will serve as the fund manager for the new Off-Grid Market Development Fund.

South Africa: 140MW Kangnas wind farm starts commercial operations (Engineering News)
- The Lekela-developed project is expected to generate over 500GWh/y over its 20-year operations period.

Africa - general

General: EU programmes allocate €82 million for sub-Saharan Africa renewables (PV Magazine)
- A €62 million Italo-French programme will reduce risk for project developers and a €20 million Spanish scheme will fund off-grid installations.

General: African utilities wary of threat posed by renewables (PV Magazine)
- Recent AfDB report indicates that a significant proportion of African utilities say their viability is threatened by renewable and energy efficiency uptake.

General: CrossBoundary Energy raises US$40 million to grow C&I solar projects (ESI)
- ARCH Emerging Markets Partners’ Africa Renewable Power Fund is providing equity funding to exit initial investors and support the continued development of C&I projects.

Geothermal: IRENA releases report on developing geothermal resources in Eastern Africa (IRENA)
- Vast untapped geothermal resources provide potential for clean and sustainable energy production, but governments must change to attract investment.

Currencies