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Analysis: Zimbabwe Hopes Rural Electrification Can Stop Deforestation. Here’s Why It Might Not Work
Researchers say bigger issues — poverty, corruption, inequality — can undermine rural energy programs if unaddressed.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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Engie and Eib Partner on Off-Grid Solar Scheme in Uganda
Millions of people in rural Uganda are set to access reliable and cheap electricity for the first time under a new off-grid solar scheme.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- impact investing, off-grid energy, SDGs, solar
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What’s Holding Back Off-Grid Solar – And How the Energy Access Sector Can Turn Things Around
Off-grid solar energy has become a $1.75 billion annual market, reaching 420 million users over the past decade – yet the sector is not on track to meet SDG7’s energy access targets by 2030. What's holding it back? Analysts at Sustainable Energy for All, Duke University and Solar Sister explore some key barriers to adoption, and how the off-grid solar ecosystem can address them.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment
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Four Key Challenges Facing India’s Local Energy Enterprises During COVID-19 – And 16 Ways Funders Can Help
COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on last-mile energy companies. SELCO Foundation recently conducted surveys and conversations with 33 local Indian energy enterprises about the challenges they're facing. Sarah Alexander explores what these businesses shared about how governments, investors, philanthropies and other stakeholders can support them.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Social Enterprise
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Press Release: Efficiency for Access Design Challenge Celebrates University Students Promoting Clean Energy Access in Emerging Economies
Winning teams from Kenya, Uganda and the UK have been announced at the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge Grand Final.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Impact of COVID-19 as Seen in Solar Payment Data – and How One Off-Grid Energy Company is Responding
Since COVID-19 began, the energy company Bboxx has been monitoring payment trends among its 250,000+ pay-as-you-go solar customers in 12 emerging markets. Analysts at Bboxx assess the data from four African countries, exploring what it says about the pandemic's impact on solar electricity users – and about how to support these customers during the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy
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Scaling Cleaner Cooking Solutions in East Africa: Acumen Discusses Its Kopagas Exit
This is not just a problem of the inconvenience of outdated technology, but of health: more than 4 million people—the majority of whom are women and girls—die each year from exposure to the air pollution produced by cooking with open fires in their homes. That’s more than the number of deaths each year from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Renewable Energy Is Electrifying COVID-19 Isolation Centers in Nigeria
The COVID-19 pandemic has upturned our 21st century existence, wreaking havoc on both social and cultural norms and our way of life. It has also crippled the global economy and continues to impact diverse business sectors and industries — travel, transportation, education, and manufacturing.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Environment, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa