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Amped Innovation Closes Series A Funding of More Than $3 Million
Amped Innovation, a designer and manufacturer of solar-powered appliances and solar energy generation and management equipment, announced today that it has closed Series A equity funding totaling more than $3.3 million. The funding round was led by ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies with participation from existing seed investors Schneider Electric Ventures and FINCA Ventures, as well as other impact-aligned investors. This financing accelerates Amped’s ability to bring high-quality, affordable solar-powered appliances to market, serving growing demands from energy distribution companies, utilities and mini- and micro-grid providers for better power solutions.
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- Press Release
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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France, Netherlands, Uk Commit US$350m to Emerging Solar and Storage
A handful of European states have moved to bankroll various World Bank clean energy initiatives, with US$100 million of French and Dutch money set to back PV in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Climate Capitalists Have Serious Money in Climate-Friendly Investments
All want to do good by the planet. Most expect to do well for themselves.
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- Energy, Environment
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The Next Big Thing for Energy Access in India? Service-Based Models for Productive-Use Appliances in Agriculture
The global off-grid solar industry has grown exponentially, driven largely by sales or leasing of small appliances enabled by the pay-as-you-go business model. But according to Lanvin Concessao at Oorja Development Solutions, the market is now shifting towards larger income-generating appliances used in small businesses and farms. He explores the impact these appliances can have in India, and how they can drive the irrigation and cold storage sectors' transition to solar energy.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
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Viewpoint: The Energy Transformation Is Not Happening Fast Enough
Climate finance as promised at the 2015 Paris meeting could have helped to avoid the recent construction of many new coal-fired power plants in Asia and Africa, which will be adding to the legacy of our industrial era for decades to come. But alas, as economic nationalism and ethnic chauvinism have taken roots, the willingness for international cooperation has dwindled, and with it the willingness to cooperate.
- Categories
- Energy
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Q&A: Africa’s $40B Market for Cooking Fuel Is Being Cleaned Up
KOKO Networks is stepping into Africa’s $40 billion market for household cooking fuel with its non-polluting bioethanol cooking technology that undercuts the cost of using charcoal by as much as 40%, Greg Murray, chief executive and co-founder of the Nairobi-based company, told BloombergNEF in an interview.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- clean energy, energy access, interviews, Q&As
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The Planetary Potential of Banishing Kerosene Lighting – And How Entrepreneurship Can Help
Kerosene lamps are still used by hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. They contribute to climate change by releasing not only CO2 but also black carbon, an especially potent greenhouse gas. What's more, they exact a grim human toll, from burns and fires to toxic smoke and poisoning hazards. Alicia Oberholzer and Fid Thompson at Solar Sister call for an end to kerosene lighting, and highlight how women's entrepreneurship can make it happen.
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- Energy, Entrepreneurship
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Clean vs. ‘Clean Enough’: How the Clean Cooking Industry Can Overcome its Struggles to Scale
Access to clean cookstoves and fuels has only increased by 0.5% per year, well below all global development goals. To turn this trajectory around, Jessica Alderman at Envirofit International argues that the industry needs to resolve a high-stakes debate: Should it focus only on the cleanest solutions that have the greatest health and environmental impacts? Or should it fund and promote technologies that have lesser impacts - but that are more affordable and likelier to reach the people who need them most?
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Technology
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