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Solar power pay-as-you-go projects in Africa are getting major funding
Services that allow customers to pay for solar equipment and service in small installments have picked up momentum in the past couple of years, particularly in East Africa. Two firms that supply solar power products with pay-as-you-go products have raised a total of $75 million in financing this month to back up that long-held vision.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Social enterprise Pollinate Energy has provided 20,000 urban poor families with affordable, green energy
In 2012, six young Australians — Jamie Chivers, Monique Alfris, Ben Merven, Katerina Kimmorley, Emma Colenbrander, and Alexie Seller — came together to see if they could find a way for children living in a slum in North Bengaluru, to have light to study.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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The world is failing to achieve a circular economy—here’s how to change that
Less than a tenth of the billions of tonnes of resources pumped into the global economy every year are reused, and this waste incurs a huge economic, environmental, and social cost. How do we make the global economy more circular?
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Press release: Acumen launches energy impact report
The Energy Impact Report, the first of its kind for the organization, is the culmination of 7,500 interviews with 5,500 off-grid energy customers across 11 countries using Acumen’s Lean Data methodology. Designed specifically for social enterprises, Lean Data is a customer-centric, technology-based approach to impact measurement that enables Acumen to speak directly with low-income customers at scale and collect high-quality impact data at a fraction of the cost of existing approaches.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- data
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Solar + Housing = Impact: Why Investors Should Boost Renewable Energy in Affordable Housing
When it comes to off-grid solar energy, we tend to think of market extremes such as rural poor people in developing countries without any electricity or well-off people in developed countries looking to charge up their Teslas. But Lori Chatman of Enterprise Community Loan Fund and Ismael Guerrero of the Denver Housing Authority detail a project to bring green power to public housing residents in the Mile High City. The project could serve as a model for impact investors looking to improve health, expand green jobs and earn a return.
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Husk Power Systems receives $20 million investment from Shell, Swedfund, ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies to scale renewable mini-grid business in Africa and Asia
Husk Power Systems a leading rural distributed utility company operating mini-grids in Asia and Africa, today announced a US $20 million equity investment* by Shell Technology Ventures LLC, Swedish development finance institution Swedfund International and ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies, ENGIE group’s impact investment fund.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Businesses in boxes: how solar is creating African entrepreneurs
Access to power is a major issue in Africa, and in solar, many people feel they have the solution. Yet solar is doing more than switching on off-grid populations, and providing a potentially lucrative and investor friendly business opportunities to companies like M-KOPA Solar and BBOXX.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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This $118 million mutual fund pays companies in carbon credits
What does the growth of a smallholder milk farm in Kenya have to do with the success of institutional investor SAP? The Livelihoods Carbon Fund, a newly launched impact investment fund, ties global sustainable economic development to emissions reduction from Danone, SAP, Schneider Electric and five other corporations. Launched Dec. 11 — just before the International Climate Summit in Paris — the fund aims to reach about a $118 million investment in ecosystem restoration, agroforestry and renewable energy projects next year in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which will avoid or sequester up to 25 million tons of CO2 over 20 years.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa