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Battery Rental for off-Grid Users in West Africa Gets a Charge
The Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) has invested $1,364 million (£1 million) into a renewables-powered battery rental company targeting off-grid communities in West Africa.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Husk Power Uses Rice Husk to Generate Electricity in Rural India
Using a proprietary technology, the company has combined and synchronised solar PV, biomass gasification system and batteries to deliver highly reliable, 24×7 power. The biomass-gasification system is a proprietary design and uses agricultural waste as its feedstock, enabling benefits of reducing agri-waste burning on farm lands and creating an additional revenue stream for farmers. This proprietary technology makes it 100 per cent renewable electricity generation company.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Press Release: BioLite Achieves Company Milestone, Reaching 1 Million Lives With Clean Energy
BioLite announced that through the company’s efforts to reach rural off-grid communities, BioLite’s clean energy solutions have impacted over one million lives in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy
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Documenting a Historic Year in Emerging Markets Business: Vote for the Top NextBillion Article of 2020
Like many of you, we're not sorry to see the end of 2020. But as we look back on this historic, tragic year, NextBillion would like to take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary work done by enterprises, NGOs, researchers and others in the emerging markets business sector. They have risen to the occasion in ways that can best be described as heroic – while sharing their insights in nearly 100 COVID-19-focused articles on our platform. Several of these pieces are included in our "Most Influential Article of the Year" contest, which launches today. We invite you to read these articles and vote for your favorites – the contest runs from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2.
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Taking Cold Chains Off-Grid: How Solar Powered Cold Rooms Could Dramatically Reduce Food Waste in Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 50% of produce perishes before reaching end customers, largely due to a lack of viable cold chain solutions. Maria Knodt at Energy 4 Impact and Ruth Kimani at CLASP explore how solar-powered cold rooms can address this issue, and highlight some significant technical and business model challenges that could undermine their impact.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Investing, Technology
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Milling on Mini-Grids: How Africa’s Largest Crop Could Go Diesel-Free
Milling is a key use of energy for people living off-grid in rural Africa, allowing them to turn grains like maize – the region's most commonly produced cereal – into flour to make staple foods. Using solar mini-grid electricity to power these mills would save money, reduce air pollution and boost electricity sales for mini-grid companies. But as analysts at CrossBoundary point out, diesel mills still dominate the market. They explore the challenge of competing with diesel, and how innovations in solar mills are changing the landscape.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
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CrossBoundary Offers up Its Mini Grids Business Model for African Peers to Benefit
The Kenyan financial services business has been developing rural mini grids across Africa and has announced plans to show its rivals how such networks can thrive, in a bid to accelerate access to electricity on the continent.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Where’s the Capital for Home-Grown Companies? Why Energy Access Investments in Kenya Need to Go Local
So far this year, 75% of global investment commitments in off-grid solar technology have gone to just three companies — a troubling trend since 2012. And as Kevin Johnstone at the International Institute for Environment and Development points out, many of the founders of the biggest solar companies are North American or European. Focusing on Kenya, he explores why the energy access sector needs more businesses founded, managed and run by local entrepreneurs, and what needs to be done to align investors and capital markets with Kenyan investment opportunities.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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