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Friday, 30 April

Dear <<First Name>>

Earlier this month, I talked about the virtual Island Finance Forum, which set out to explore the unique financial challenges faced by island states and find solutions for a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery from COVID-19. The four-day event brought together top politicians, sustainability leaders, development experts and senior financiers from across the world and I have no doubt has shifted the needle on island sustainable development.

Carrying on the island theme, we were delighted this week to see the first ever signing of a financial institution to the Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF).  In a nutshell, CRAF is an initiative led by the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) to incentivise financial institutions to support SMEs looking to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the Caribbean. Camco was brought in to carry out the first phase of the project in 2018 and has had a central role in implementing the second phase, including the pilot launch in November 2020.

This week’s signing between CDF and the Saint Lucia Development Bank (SLDB) has been rightly heralded as a “gamechanger” for sustainable development in the Caribbean and it is hoped will pave the way for many more institutions to back the initiative.

This 30-minute video of the signing might on paper might not sound a riveting watch, but I would highly recommend it if for no other reason than to witness the speakers’ passion and commitment for CRAF and the positive impact it could have on Carribean nations. And as the Camco MD, I was especially delighted to hear our CRAF experts Alec Joubert and River Providence singled out for praise by SLDB MD Vincent Boland. Many congratulations to them and the rest of the team that brought about this week’s huge achievement.

Cheers

Geoff 

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

Camco news
The first Master Guarantee Agreement between the CDF and the Saint Lucia Development Bank has been signed marking a major milestone for the CRAF team! For more detail, watch this video
 
Camco news
Camco has become the latest member of the Global Impact Investing Network, the world’s leading non-profit dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing. Camco’s membership signifies our commitment to deepening our engagement in the impact investing industry.
 
Story of the week
On the sidelines of the recent EU-Africa forum, the EIB committed to providing EUR340 million to five African countries. If approved, the majority of the funding will go towards an interconnection project between Guinea and Mali. (Afrik21)
 

West Africa

Ghana: German government provides EUR20 million grant to improve energy cooperation (Afrik21)
- The funding will be provided by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and is intended to strengthen technical cooperation in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Nigeria: Government rejects World Bank power sector assessment report (ESI)
- The government has disputed several figures presented in the report and says that, contrary to claims made in the report, improvements are regularly being made in power distribution.

Sierra Leone: PowerGen connects solar mini-grids to four rural villages (Afrik21)
- The systems have a combined capacity of 150kWp, were installed in partnership with InfraCo Africa and are located in Baoma Koya, Sumbuya, Gorahun and Gegbwema.

East Africa

Kenya: Work at Akiira geothermal site resumes (Afrik21)
- The local community has given its approval for work to resume following months of opposition due to environmental concerns, which have now been addressed.

Kenya: Treasury proposes scrapping VAT on renewable energy products (Standard Media)
- Parliament set to vote on removing the 14% tax.

Southern Africa

Mozambique: Five IPPs to compete for the 40MWp Dondo solar plant (Afrik21)
- Finalists include EDF Renewables, a consortium formed by Globaleq and Akuo Energy, Enel Green Power, Scatec and Total Eren.

South Africa: Recent study by RES4Africa and CESI S.p.A focuses on energy reform aspirations (ESI)
- The study, “Fostering Renewables within an Independent Network System Scenario for South Africa”, is designed to help South Africa's decision-making process.

South Africa: DMRE gives notice to raise embedded generation threshold (ESI)
- The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has released a notice in the government gazette outlining plans to raise the threshold from 1MW to 10MW.

Africa - general

General: EIB commits EUR340 million for sustainable water and energy systems (Afrik21)
- This facility will benefit Chad, Comoros, Guinea, Malawi and Mali and will enable the construction of a high profile interconnection project in the West African Power Pool.

General: IFC seeking to invest USD20 million into capacity building project (ESI)
- If approved, this funding would be allocated to the off-grid power service provider Daybreak Power Solutions.

General: EU offers expertise to drive renewables growth in Africa (PV-Magazine)
- Under the patronage of the African-EU Green Energy Initiative, the European Union and African Union hope to drive growth in renewables by developing favourable regulations and policies across the continent.

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