Earlier this year, the African Development Bank announced plans to facilitate 10GW of solar across the barren, semi-arid Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa. PV Tech investigated how increasing human pressure on the land and the widespread cutting down of trees for wood and charcoal for fuel can be alleviated by solar PV technology.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is providing nearly half the funding necessary for a scheme to deploy solar mini-grids across 100 villages in Burkina Faso.
The UK government is to provide £100 million of funding to the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) to support up to 40 new renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa including small-scale solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources up to 2023, along with £105 million for certified green buildings in emerging markets.
House Bill 8197 granting private firm Solar Philippines a 25-year PV mini-grid and transmission franchise across the Philippines passed through its third and final reading on Monday.
India's National Bank for Agriculture and Development (NABARD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) have sanctioned US$34.4 million support for a groundwater recharge and solar micro-irrigation project to ensure food security and enhance resilience in vulnerable tribal areas of Odisha.
Despite the "absolutely fantastic" progress in a year of tough market conditions, Bridge to India has said rooftop solar should be given more government support.
Kenya's government has launched a plan for total electrification in the country by 2022, which acknowledges the role that off-grid systems, mini-grids and stand-alone solar plants can have in complementing extensions to the grid and mitigating higher loads.
Myanmar-based off-grid PV company SolarHome has raised US$10 million in debt funding from a group of international investors, including Crowdcredit from Japan and Trine from Sweden, in order to expand across Myanmar.
UPDATED: A controversial House Bill granting private Filipino firm Solar Philippines a PV mini-grid and transmission franchise across the Philippines has all but passed through Congress, with only a procedural third step left to confirm the final draft of the Bill.
A pair of oil and gas giants, Algerian state-run company Sonatrach and Italy-based firm Eni, have inaugurated a 10MW solar PV project to power an oil field in Bir Rebaa North (BRN) in Algeria.
