Friday, 30 September

Dear <<First Name>>

One million new connections, nearly 25MW installed renewable energy capacity and the creation of over 8,700 jobs, 1,784 of which were held by women – these are just some of the highlights featured in Camco-managed Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP)’s latest annual report, published today. 

The digital publication is the biggest and - in my view - the best report by the UK-funded REPP to date, presenting a comprehensive overview of how the platform is delivering transformational impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa through catalysing the growth of small-scale and decentralised renewable energy.

It provides illustrated breakdowns of REPP’s performance against key indicators, as well as project-by-project summaries and a qualitative assessment of REPP’s overall impact linked to the sustainable development goals and its alignment with national development priorities. It also features personal impact stories from the beneficiaries of REPP-supported projects and for the first time this year includes a section on REPP’s theory of change.

Other achievements and notable milestones covered in the report include 

• GBP 43.3 million committed by REPP
• GBP 306 million moblised from third parties 
• 38 projects spanning 16 countries
• 358MW installed capacity under development, in addition to the 24.7MW already installed
• 58,870 tCO2e avoided, with over 21 million tCO2e expected to be avoided over the projects’ lifetime 

Compiling an annual report gives a company the opportunity to take stock of the last 12 months and see how far it’s come in that time. I am delighted by the progress made by REPP over the reporting period and want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Camco team, REPP’s Board and Investment Committee and all of REPP’s investees, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco 

West Africa

Cameroon: AfDB to fund port sector and sustainable urban sanitation project (ESI Africa)
- The bank will provide USD38.3 million for the Industrial and Port Area of Kribi Project to ease road traffic between the towns of Edea and Kribi and USD32 million to the Yaoundé City Sustainable Enhanced Drainage and Sanitation Project to address flooding in the city centre.  

Nigeria: CrossBoundary Energy Access (CBEA) partners with ENGIE Energy Access (Afrik21)
- Engie has signed a USD60 million financing agreement with CBEA with the intention to deploy solar mini-grids to electrify 150,000 people in rural areas.

Nigeria: Sterling and Wilson Solar Solutions partner (PV Magazine)
- The two have signed a deal with the Nigerian government to build 961MWp of solar and 455MWh of battery storage capacity across five different locations.
 
Solar: Kowry Energy commissions decentralised solar energy solutions (Afrik21)
- The commissioned projects are based in Senegal, Nigeria and Mali and form part of a wider portfolio of projects likely to be executed by the service provider over the next three years. 

East Africa

Malawi: DFC provides USD25 million loan for Golomoti Solar's project expansion (PV Magazine)
- The corporation has signed a commitment letter for the loan, which will be used to expand a 20MW solar PV plant and a 5MW/10MWh battery energy storage system in southeast Malawi. 

Zambia: Country issues tender for mini-grid feasibility studies and regulation design (ESI Africa)
- The Rural Electrification Authority of Zambia is calling for qualified firms to indicate their interest in undertaking feasibility studies for potential rural electrification mini-grid and off-grid projects in the country. 

Southern Africa

Namibia: Hydrogène de France intends to build utility-scale solar and hydrogen project  (PV Magazine)
- The developer has obtained new permits to build a 85MW solar park and green hydrogen production unit in Swakopmund and is currently negotiating a power purchase agreement with state-owned utility NamPower Corporation. 

South Africa: EDF Renewables signs power purchase agreements for three wind farms (Afrik21)
- The Coleskop, San Kraal and Phezukomoya wind farms, each with a capacity of 140MW, will be located in the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces.
 
South Africa: Eskom launches battery energy storage system pilot project (ESI Africa)
- The project’s overall goal is to help municipalities to appreciate battery storage fundamentals as a way to smooth out the energy-insecure country’s variable renewable energy supply.

South Africa: Revego Africa Energy Limited acquires equity interests in solar PV portfolio (ESI Africa)
- Revego will acquire the Aries and Konkoonsies solar parks, each with a capacity of 11MW, and the 30MW Soutpan park.

Africa - other

C&I: Shell acquires Daystar Power (ESI Africa)
- The acquisition is expected to boost the West Africa-based company’s expansion plans to deliver carbon emission reductions and power cost savings to businesses across Africa.

Green finance: Proparco invests USD12 million in Maris (ESI Africa)
- The deal will build the investment fund manager’s capacity in the sectors of agriculture and forestry, renewable energy, real estate services, business services and mining across East Africa.

Solar: The Covid-19 Recovery Platform (CRP) is set to receive USD20 million (PV Magazine)
- The funding consists of concessional loans from the US-based Global Environment Facility (USD13 million) and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (USD7 million) and will be used to support pay-as-you-go solar companies.

Pacific

Climate: Climate change is driving vulnerable communities into poverty and hunger, says report (PINA)
- According to a recent Oxfam report, the unusual sea intrusions and recent natural disasters in the Pacific region have begun to negatively affect food gardens, impacting food supply.

General: Pacific nations strategically align ahead of COP27 (PINA)
- The Pacific Small Island States Preparatory Meeting for COP27 was held this week to deliberate and discuss priority thematic areas ahead of the upcoming global conference.

New Zealand: Climate change minister backs treaty to ban fossil fuels (PINA)
- The aim of the treaty is to phase out the use of greenhouse gases responsible for the vast majority of global warming, with the aim of keeping warming below 1.5C  in line with the Paris Agreement.

Rest of the world

Australia: Oz Minerals to develop ‘world’s largest’ off-grid hybrid project (PV Magazine)
- The mining company has been given the green light for a USD1.7 billion copper and nickel project that will be  powered by an optimised mix of solar PV and wind generation, supported by a battery energy storage system and backed up by diesel-fuelled generation. 

US: Brookfield Renewable invests an estimated USD2 billion in Standard Solar and Scout Clean Energy (PV Magazine)
- The investment will increase Brookfield’s development portfolio to 60GW across wind, utility-scale solar, distributed generation and energy storage. 

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