Friday, 27 January

Dear <<First Name>>

The British Ambassador to Burundi witnessed UK climate finance in action this week when he took a tour around the spectacular 7.5MW solar plant near Mubuga village in the country’s Gitega Province. 

When the REPP-supported project was commissioned in 2021, it increased the energy generation capacity of Burundi – one of the world’s poorest and least electrified countries - by more than 10% in an instant.  

Omar - who also serves as High Commissioner to Rwanda - is responsible for the direction and work of the British Embassy and its Consulates, including trade and investment, and was therefore keen to see how UK government-funded REPP had helped bring the high-profile project to fruition. 

After the visit, he took to Twitter to rave about the solar plant and how UK investment was providing “clean energy to tens of thousands of Burundians, enabling them to work, study and develop the country”. 

I am delighted to see the project and REPP’s support for it get this public recognition. As REPP’s investment manager, Camco first got involved back in 2016 when most investors would have seen the project as unbankable due to its remote location, Burundi’s political instability and a long list of other challenges. But five years and two further REPP loans later the solar plant was finished, becoming the country’s first grid-connected solar project by an independent power producer. 

Today, Mubuga acts as a proof point of how public-private partnerships can triumph against the odds, and has paved the way for other renewable energy projects in Burundi by helping to establish a more viable market as a result of building government capacity and strengthening political buy-in and support for small-scale utility renewables. Click here to find out more. 

Camco works at the cutting edge of private sector financing in Africa, taking higher risks than other climate funds. We do this because to address the multibillion-dollar gap in financing sustainable, affordable, modern energy for all requires proof that emerging markets are viable for private investment.  

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco 

West Africa

Ghana: Country receives USD4.8 million payment for reduced carbon emissions (ESI Africa)
- The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) paid the country for reducing 972,456 tonnes of carbon emissions over the first monitoring period under the programme.

Nigeria: Country signs MoU with Egypt on joint electricity development (AllAfrica) 
- Through the agreement, the two countries will provide technical support for the electricity generation sector and the development of electricity transmission and distribution networks, and the transition to a smart grid system. 

Senegal: US Treasury Secretary breaks ground on rural electrification (Reuters) 
- Janet Yellen has helped to kick off a new rural electrification project in Senegal that will bring reliable power to 350,000 people, while supporting some 500 jobs in 14 US states.

East Africa

Kenya: Refugee camp to benefit from solar energy (ESI Africa)
- Renewvia and Okapi have partnered to launch OkRene Energy, which will design, finance, install and operate a solar mini-grid to energise the community residing in the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Madagascar: Government partners with United Nations Capital Development Fund to design climate adaptation facility (African Business) 
- In a bid to find durable adaptation solutions, the entities will explore how to implement the Local Climate Adaptation Living mechanism in-country. 

Southern Africa

South Africa: Big changes coming for rooftop solar, says President (BusinessTech)
- Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is pulling on every resource it has to urgently get power onto the grid, highliting rooftop solar panels on homes and businesses as a major source of new generation. 

South Africa: Cape Town to start paying cash for excess electricity fed into the local grid (Times Live)
- Businesses in the city capable of feeding electricity into the local grid will be paid cash for their excess power before the end of June and homeowners within the year.

South Africa: Enel Green Power to supply renewable energy to Air Liquide and Sasol (Enel)
- The supplier has signed two PPA agreements for the long-term supply of 220MW of renewable energy capacity to Sasol's Secunda site, scheduled to be operational in 2025.

Africa - other

Renewables: Madsar to deliver clean energy projects to Angola, Uganda and Zambia (Power Engineering)
- The UAE renewable energy company has signed a deal under the umbrella Etihad 7 initiative, which covers the development of 2GW in Angola, 1GW in Uganda and 2GW in Zambia. 

DRC: Green hydrogen solar power plant to be set up in Kinshasa (Pumps Africa)
- HDF Energy and the provincial government of Kinshasa have partnered to develop the project, which would be the first hydrogen power plant in Central Africa.

EV: US signs MoU with DRC and Zambia to strengthen EV battery value chains (Mining Weekly) 
- Under the terms of the agreement, the US will support the African countries' goal of building a productive supply chain, from the mine to the assembly line, whilst respecting international standards and fighting corruption.

Green finance: World Bank announces USD13.5 million programme (ESI Africa)
- The blue economy programme seeks to catalyse finance and provide an operational response to development challenges in coastal and marine areas across Africa.

Sustainable development: AFDB Group team meet Swiss envoys (ESI Africa) 
- Swiss ambassadors from West Africa invited the bank's team to exchange views on development and cooperation. 

Pacific

Energy: Making the energy transition a reality in the Pacific (UNESCAP)
- Op-ed exploring to how sustainably fulfil the need for an acceleration of transformative energy policy actions and ambitions of the region. 

French Polynesia: Officials apply for Marquesas Islands to become UNESCO World Heritage Site (RNZ)
- The country's culture minister Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu has said the bid is the most complicated ever submitted as it involves both the natural and cultural heritage of the archipelago.

Rest of the world

Clean energy: USD1.1 trillion investment record set in 2022 (Bloomberg)
- According to research by BlombergNEF, investment in the energy transition also equaled global investment in fossil fuels for the first time, making last year a double milestone for decarbonising the world's energy systems.

Energy: Electrification a major challenge for healthcare facilities globally (ESI Africa)
- According to a new report by the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, IRENA and Sustainable Energy for All, close to one billion people globally are served by healthcare facilities with little to no electrification. 

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