Browsing: Solar Power

• Energy experts warn that the shortages that plague Africa’s electricity access in 2024 will have a significant drain on the continent’s economic growth.
• World Bank will connect 300 million Africans to electricity with a $35 billion plan.
• Africa is poised to adapt to transformative advancements that will reshape the landscape of energy access, storage, and connectivity across the continent.

Africa remains the most energy-deficient continent, with approximately 75 per cent of its population lacking access to electricity. As of 2021, 43 per cent of Africans, roughly 600 million people, were without electricity access, with 590 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, nearly half of the continent’s population is unable to use basic electrical appliances.

Despite improvements in electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where 49.4 per cent of the population had access in 2022, up from 33 per cent in 2010, electricity consumption has not seen a corresponding increase. The persistent lack …

• The African Development Bank has donated $20 million to Senegal to enhance food security and support small producers post-COVID through the PRESAN-PC project.
• Infrastructure development, including agricultural boreholes and solar-powered systems, aims to increase farm production and resilience to climate change.
• The project benefits vulnerable women and youth, includes contributions from various sources, and impacts 31,000 households across multiple Senegalese regions.

In an ambitious move to ensure food security and enhance the livelihoods of its small producers, Senegal has received a significant financial boost. On a notable day in March 2024, the African Development Bank Group allocated a $20 million donation to the nation for the Post-Covid Food and Nutrition Security Enhancement Project (PRESAN-PC).

The initiative aims to transform Senegal’s agricultural landscape, benefiting vulnerable women and young people through increased farm production and income.

African Development Bank’s $20 million donation to Senegal 

The African Development Bank’s generous donation comes from …

• Solar energy, alongside wind power, has become the cheapest way to meet the growing demand for electricity, according to the World Bank.
• World Bank’s Demetrios Papathanasiou says many developing countries have some of the world’s best solar and wind resources.
• He expresses his optimism about the ability of global countries to tap into advances in solar energy and make dramatic gains.

Solar energy is expected to surpass coal as the world’s most available energy source by 2027. The African countries with the most immense global potential are critical drivers of this projection.

The World Bank, in its latest energy report update, says that of the nearly 675 million people who still live without electricity worldwide, more than 80 per cent, or 567 million people, live in sub-Saharan Africa.

It says that 2030 solar mini-grids could bring high-quality, uninterrupted power to 380 million people.

“This is if governments and …

A new commentary from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the upcoming World Energy Outlook 2023 has revealed that despite improvements, global access to electricity still needs to catch up to the pace required to meet SDG 7. The commentary supports discussions from the recently concluded United Nations’ SDG Summit on 18-19 September 2023. It is also part of the IEA’s support of the first global stocktake of the Paris Agreement, which will be finalized in the run-up to COP28, the next UN Climate Change Conference, at the end of 2023.…

• About 200,000 people in Windhoek will benefit from AfDB-funded solar lighting project.
• AfDB’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund helps countries invest in climate resilient cities.
• Rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in Namibia’s capital has seen the steady rise in informal settlements. 

An estimated 50,000 homes in Namibia’s informal settlements will benefit from solar power connections as green revolution across African economies picks up speed. The solar project targeting informal settlements in Namibia’s capital city has received a grant of $485,000 from the African Development Bank’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund .

In Windhoek, where around 20 per cent of the population lacks access to power, the “Informal Settlement Renewable Electrification and Upgrading Program” will directly assist almost 200,000 people.

The Urban and Municipal Development Fund of the AfDB supports national socioeconomic development and poverty reduction by assisting governments in funding sustainable urban development for more livable, productive, and climate resilient cities.…

• Zambia’s state-owned power utility Zesco has signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ renewable energy company Masdar to develop solar projects worth US$2 billion.
• The project will commence immediately, starting with the phased installation of 500 megawatts (MW)
• Zambia has been rationing electricity supply following a big drop in water levels in Lake Kariba, threatening hydropower generation which contributes more than 75 per cent of the country’s power output.

The United Arab Emirates’ government-owned renewable energy company, Masdar, and Zambia’s state-owned energy company, ZESCO, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to develop 2 GW of solar energy in Zambia. The project, which is worth US$ 2 billion, will be developed in phases over the next five years, starting with the installation of 500 MW, President Hakainde Hichilema said.

“This is not a loan but a capital injection in which the Zambian people, …

Eramet Group’s subsidiary Grande Côte Opérations (GCO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CrossBoundary Energy for the construction of a 13 MW hybrid solar power station with 8 MW battery storage in Senegal.

This comes at a time when Senegal is emphasizing the role renewable will play in the country and has set up ambitious targets to reach universal access to electricity by 2025, achieve 200GWh of hydro power production, and have renewable make up 30 percent of the power mix by 2025.

In a statement, CrossBoundary said the solar power station is dedicated to the Diogo industrial site (north-western Senegal) for the production of mineral sands, and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2023.

Its renewable energy is expected to help improve GCO’s carbon footprint and reinforce its ISO 50001 approach.

“This is a first that reinforces the company’s commitment to the climate, in line with that …

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has just breathed life into Burkina Faso—the lease electrified country in the continent and globally, with € 48.42 million ($53 million) fund for the government of the country to implement the Yeleen Solar energy Plant, which is anticipated to boost national power supply, AfDB press release reads.

According to AfDB, the current project is part of Burkina Faso’s broader 2025 Solar Programme, known as “Yeleen” with three components: Development of photovoltaic plants (PV) connected to the interconnected national grid, Increase in the electricity distribution network, and Rural electrification by mini-grids (isolated) and individual solar systems.

Further, the rural electrification “ Yeleen rural electrification project” which aims to increase electricity access in Burkina Faso by connecting 150,000 households to solar mini-grids (50,000 household) and through stand-alone solar kits systems (100,000 households) was approved by AfDB in December 2018 with joint financing with European Union (EU) …