Friday, 13 May

Dear <<First Name>>

Camco-managed Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) has connected more than one million people to clean electricity in Africa! 

For the last six years, our team has been working tirelessly to build up a diverse portfolio of solar mini-grids, solar home systems and isolated grid projects designed to improve energy access in rural areas and cut emissions. And their efforts are paying off, with REPP’s latest quarterly impact report, published today, revealing that as of 31 March this year, the projects were providing clean electricity to approximately 1,083,000 people. 

Electricity is the true enabler of economic prosperity and improved livelihoods. Through these new connections, rural communities and businesses are now able to enjoy far-reaching health and socio-economic benefits, from improved air quality to increased opportunity for more productive use of energy (PUE) activities. The projects – as well as REPP-supported on-grid projects - are also directly supporting individual countries’ national climate action targets set out in their Nationally Determined Contributions. (Find out more about all of REPP’s projects here.) 

Passing the one million connection milestone is a huge achievement for REPP. It is a testament to all of the hard work and determination of not just the Camco team, but REPP’s board, investment committee and partners and, of course, the developers themselves, without whom none of this would have ever been possible. Well done everyone! 

Cheers

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

West Africa

Burkina Faso: AMEA Power reaches financial close on Zina plant (Construction Week)
- Once commissioned, the 26.6MW solar plant will be the company’s second largest operational solar asset in West Africa.

Ghana: Report predicts substantial growth in renewable energy capacity (ESI Africa)
-  Global Data research indicates that the country’s demand is surging 10% annually and is expected to increase to over 1,900MW in 2035. 

East Africa

Ethiopia: Testing of geothermal wells commences (Pumps Africa)
- The state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power has started to test the recently drilled wells at the Aluto Langano site.

Malawi: Golomoti solar power plant enters commercial operation (Afrik 21)
- The 20MW facility is located in the Dedza district and feeds energy into the country’s national power grid.

Somalia: Aptech Africa commissions solar water treatment plant (Pumps Africa)
- The plant aims to address the issues of poor hygiene and lack of clean drinking water currently suffered by the area’s residents.

Southern Africa

South Africa: Gold mine commissions 10MW solar plant (Mining Review Africa)
-  The plant will be situated at Evander Gold Mines and is estimated to provide 30% of the Elikhulu Group’s power requirement, whilst materially reducing costs.

South Africa: Start-up aims to exploit blockchain to fund clean energy projects (ESI Africa)
- Sinan Energy is proposing to target over 100MW of distributed generation through the sale of tokenised carbon credits and energy sales.

South Africa: Study tour for insights into the country’s biogas market (DiBiCoo)
- The Digital Global Biogas Cooperation recently hosted a capacity building workshop and study tour to help inform stakeholders on the country’s biogas market.

Zimbabwe: Pretoria Portland Cement builds solar plant in Bulawayo (Africa 21)
- The cement manufacturer is holding a stone laying ceremony for the construction of a solar power plant, equipped with a storage system, which will require an investment of USD40 million.

Africa - other

Africa: Africa Green Growth Readiness Assessment Report launches (Devdiscourse)
- The study focuses on an in-depth analysis of Gabon, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia, and highlights evidence of an increase in political commitment to green growth. 

Africa: Mining sector has demand for hybrid solutions (ESI Africa)
- The demand for hybrid power solutions in the continent's mining sector represents a shift in the mindset of mining houses and an increased pressure to reduce greenhouse gases.

Africa: IFC and Equity Holdings Group Plc announce partnership expansion (TechEconomy)
- The pair will work to support the sustainable development of the continent by increasing access to financial services for small businesses and funding green projects in six countries. 

C&I: Climate Investor One and Empower New Energy clients to benefit from solar PV (Climate Fund Managers)
- The companies have have entered into a development funding agreement to develop 100MW of solar PV for C&I clients across the continent.

Climate finance: Financing institutions mobilise USD165 million (Afrik 21)
- IFC, FMO and BII are amongst the institutions that have partnered with impact investment companies ResponsAbility and Symbiotics to invest in Equity Bank Kenya.

Egypt: Empower New Energy finances 2.5MW of solar power (Afrik 21)
- The company continues its North African expansion by announcing a partnership with AMECO to build a rooftop solar power plant to power its factory in Ramadan City.

PAYGO: Shining a light on the model’s risks and side effects (ESI Africa)
- Opinion article notes that the sale of off-grid systems using end-customer credits has become very popular, but it is not without issues.
 
Tunisia: Green4Youth launches fourth call for projects (Afrik 21)
- Start-ups have until 17 May to propose their solutions in favour of sustainable development and to convince of their environmental impact, job creation potential and innovation capacity.

Pacific

New Zealand: Major parties commit to emission cuts (RNZ)
- In a parliamentary debate, both of the country’s major political parties committed to its first three emissions budgets.

Samoa: Pacific climate warrior wins Global Citizen Award 2022 (Scoop)
- Brianna Fruean has been announced as the recipient of the accolade in acknowledgement of her work leading community projects for climate justice and commitment to ensuring that small islands are represented at global climate conversations.

Vanuatu: Push for legal protection from climate change gains traction (Pina)
- The country’s push for the International Court of Justice to protect vulnerable nations from climate change has received backing from 1,500 civil society organisations and over 130 countries.

Rest of the world

Renewables: Clean fuel sources could generate trillions of dollars for global energy market (ESI Africa)
- IEA expert claims that the search for greener energy could create a USD27 million market opportunity for manufacturers across the world by 2050. 

Renewables: Global electricity generation capacity to reach record levels in 2021 (ESI Africa)
- Recent report claims the world added a record 295GW of renewable power capacity in 2021, despite the high cost of raw materials and delays in construction.

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