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Scalable Mini-Grid Design Requires Expandable Systems: Why Modular Technology and Finance are Key to the Sector’s Growth and Sustainability
Mini-grids offer a proven, low-cost solution to bring energy access to hard-to-reach communities. But as Nathan Sermonis and Liam Murphy at Vittoria Technology argue, mini-grid projects need to start small and grow alongside customer demand for optimal sustainability. They explore why smart mini-grid design requires expandable, right-sized systems with “modular” finance and technology, and discuss how recent innovations in batteries and other solar technologies can enable this change in the sector’s approach to system design.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 2 — Financing Options
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances are the subject of growing attention in the development sector, but manufacturers and distributors are facing a number of challenges and misconceptions that are limiting uptake of these devices. In the second article of a two-part series exploring best practices for selling PUE appliances, Thomas Charoy and Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath at Hystra discuss the affordability challenge, sharing solutions for handling the high level of working capital and financial skills required to offer financing options to end-users.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Technology
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Press Release: Ignite Power Scales Up Distribution Renewable Energy Access in 4 West African Countries Through Acquisition of Oolu
Ignite Power, a leading provider of distributed infrastructure solutions, expanding renewable energy access in Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon through the strategic acquisition of Oolu.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Overlapping Impacts of Off-Grid Solar: Four Ways Innovative Funding Can Enable the Sector to Advance Global Climate and Poverty Goals
How can the off-grid solar sector achieve its energy access and climate-related goals? Laura Fortes and Drew Corbyn at GOGLA argue that there’s one clear answer to that question: more and better finance. They discuss four ways innovative funding models can enable the sector to rapidly and radically accelerate progress toward universal energy access and other development goals.
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- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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A Blueprint for Productive Use of Clean Energy: An Accelerator in Nigeria Generates Solutions for Linking Mini-Grids to Agricultural Equipment in Rural Communities
There are over 70 mini-grids operating in Nigeria today, and similar businesses are delivering clean energy in other underserved communities around the world. But as Scarlett Santana at RMI explains, serving these markets presents unique challenges, since if customers lack productive uses for the electricity they sell, mini-grids’ revenue model fails. She explores how mini-grids can address this challenge by partnering with agricultural equipment providers, and discusses an accelerator co-led by RMI that is providing the ecosystem to make these partnerships happen.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Investing
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Can Pay-As-You-Go Help Clean Up Clean Cooking?
Since 2015, the global focus on clean cooking has grown substantially, bringing more funding, research and attention from policymakers to the sector. But according to Tash Perros at the University of Liverpool, Iwona Bisaga at Loughborough University and Julia Tomei at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, progress remains slow, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. They examine some of the reasons behind the inertia that is plaguing clean cooking access, and explore whether pay-as-you-go business models could catalyze progress.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
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Press Release: Universal Energy Facility Provides Grants to Solar Projects Across Nigeria, Helping SMEs While Saving Thousands of Tons of Carbon Emissions per Year
These companies will now begin construction on their proposed solar projects, all of which are designed to connect businesses and services to a clean, affordable, and reliable electricity source.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: World Bank and Ethiopia Sign $40 Million Agreement to Cut Carbon Emissions Through Sustainable Landscape Management
Ethiopia has signed a landmark agreement with the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL).
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa