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Faster Energy Access Requires Better Data: This ‘Smart Platform’ Aims to Provide It
Despite the Sustainable Development Goals’ ambitious call for universal energy access by 2030, over 2 billion people still lack reliable electricity. Distributed renewable energy technologies could bridge this gap, but most countries suffering from energy poverty have yet to truly embrace them. One solution, say Rebekah Shirley and Monkgogi Otlhogile at Power for All, is for this fast-evolving sector to have more comprehensive and current data. To that end, the organization has built a free, open-access platform that helps users draw meaningful insights about energy access from the latest data. They discuss the platform and its benefits in this post.
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- Energy
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Running Out of Gas: Can This Innovative Solar and Battery Electric Generator Fight Energy Poverty – And Climate Change?
The electric generator market is predicted to grow to US $27 billion by 2023. But as the industry grows, so too will the need for fuel to power it – a major challenge in a world struggling to reduce carbon emissions and climate change. Portable Electric believes it has found a solution: a portable generator that can be powered by solar and wind to provide completely renewable, mobile energy – at three times the efficiency of traditional generators. The company's founder, Mark Rabin discusses the technology, and its uses in everything from micro-grids to disaster relief.
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- Energy, Technology
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Navigating Change: A Step-By-Step Approach to Revising a Social Enterprise Business Plan
By 2018, EarthSpark International had already built two micro-grids in Haiti, sold around 18,000 clean energy products, and invented the leading meter for micro-grids, which sold 40,000 units in 22 countries. The company seemed to be primed for a successful future. But EarthSpark faced significant problems, both in terms of profitability and social impact. To achieve its mission, it needed to make major changes to its model. Social business pioneer Eric Carlson describes how the company revised its business plan, using the paradigm from his new book, Building A Successful Social Venture.
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- Energy, Entrepreneurship
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Solar Startups Are Plugging Africa’s Energy Gap
Based on current trends, the World Bank predicts that even by 2040 over half a billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa will still lack electricity. Although energy use across sub-Saharan Africa has risen by 45% since 2000, supply has not kept pace with demand.
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- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Powering the World’s Poorer Economies: A Response to Bill Gates and Jigar Shah
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and SunEdison founder Jigar Shah have clashed in a heated debate over the best way to provide energy access to the world’s poor.
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- Energy
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A Mini-Grid Milestone: Can the Industry’s First Trade Association Help Electrify Rural Africa?
In April, the mini-grid industry got its first-ever trade association, as the Africa Mini-grid Developers Association (AMDA) launched with chapters in Kenya and Tanzania – and ambitious goals for expansion across the continent. Though AMDA's membership currently includes about a dozen companies providing 11,000 connections, it aspires to represent 90 percent of the mini-grid sector by the end of 2021. In a Q&A with Scott Anderson, AMDA co-founder Jessica Stephens discusses its plans to transform the mini-grid industry from a feel-good alternative to a power player in the energy sector.
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- Energy
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Redefining What It Means to be a Next-Generation Energy Company in Africa
More than 650 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack electricity. Distributed energy service companies face many obstacles in serving this market - from finding the right capital investors to cultivating on-the-ground expertise. Mansoor Hamayun, CEO of solar distributed energy firm BBOXX, says his company is taking aim at several of those challenges with a new financing mechanism. In partnership with Bamboo Capital Partners, BBOXX is launching an investment platform that aims to break down barriers preventing energy companies from scaling up in developing markets.
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- Energy, Environment
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Engie and Fenix to bring affordable power to the Africans living off-grid
Engie Africa and off-grid energy company Fenix International have closed their acquisition agreement, a move that aims to provide safe and affordable energy to millions of households across Africa
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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