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Uganda Shakes up Electricity Access Amid Global Infrastructure Reset
About 1 billion people worldwide still lack access to electricity, according to the latest data, with efforts moving too slowly to meet a U.N. goal of providing clean, affordable power to everyone on the planet by 2030.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: Utilities 2.0 Coalition Unveils Vision for Utility of the Future in Low Energy Access Countries; Announces 1st Demonstration
Power companies in Uganda target win-win-win business models that accelerate electricity access, while benefiting utilities, private sector service companies and energy-poor consumers.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why are Investments Surging in Off-Grid Energy? A Q&A with Wood Mackenzie’s Benjamin Attia
In partnership with Energy 4 Impact, Wood Mackenzie recently released "Strategic Investments in Off-grid Energy Access: Scaling the Utility of the Future at the Last Mile." Among its many headlines, the research found that total annual investment in the off-grid energy access sector surpassed $500 million in 2018 for the first time. To find out what's fueling it and what it means for the millions living off the power grid, we spoke with Benjamin Attia, a research analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and an African solar PV markets expert.
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Are Rural Customers Ready to Consume More Energy at the Right Price? New Mini-Grid Research Offers Intriguing Results
Setting appropriate pricing is crucial to any business, but it's especially challenging for mini-grid developers serving rural customers in emerging countries. If the price is too high, customers can’t afford to buy enough power. If it's too low, mini-grids risk their commercial viability. Authors at CrossBoundary discuss a new report exploring the impact of massive price reductions on energy consumption and mini-grid revenues. The results are striking, and potentially significant for both providers and their customers.
- Categories
- Energy
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Bridging the ‘Off-Grid/On-Grid’ Divide: How Grid Integration Can Build the Energy System of the Future
The cost of solar modules has dropped by over 80% since 2009, and it’s estimated that the world’s solar power capacity will triple by 2022, driven in part by off-grid energy. Yet without an effort to make connections between off-grid systems and national grids, the growing global movement toward mini-grid solutions cannot reach its potential, says Tatiana Bessarabova at Endeva. She explores how Endeva, SOLshare and other players in the energy sector are working to make grid integration a reality in Bangladesh.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Press release: BBOXX Unveils Its Vision for the “Community of the Future” for the Developing World
Tomorrow’s Connected Community is being rolled out in the rural village of Sikpé Afidégnon in Togo, following its inauguration by the H.E. President Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Republic of Togo. The entire village comprised of 300 houses and 4,000 people in the south of the country is to be powered by solar electricity including, streetlights, households, schools and small shops.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Putting Energy to Work: Community and Business Partnerships for Sustainable Local Futures
Most attempts to create energy access without considering its social impact will simply end up as a checked box on a list, without moving the needle on any of the SDGs, writes Saurabh Biswas, a PhD candidate at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability. He explores a new study where researchers were embedded with companies and non-profits in Nepal, the Philippines, Uganda and Bolivia. The research points to the value of “multi-dimensional partnerships” that bring together not only energy companies and consumers, but other diverse stakeholders.
- Categories
- Energy
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Adapt or Die: Accelerating Growth Amid a Rapidly Changing Energy Landscape
The clean cooking sector has made incredible strides in the past decade, with bilateral organizations and the development community working together to create standardized environmental impact goals. Now the industry is facing a new set of scaling challenges, say Jessica Alderman and Ron Bills of Envirofit International. The two share advice for enterprises seeking to level up, including how to avoid mission creep.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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