Africa

A report on the off-grid solar market has revealed that there has been a 7% drop in off-grid solar and home system product sales worldwide yet the market remains “buoyant”.

A consortium including Enel Green Power, a subsidiary of Italian power giant Enel, and Ethiopian infrastructure company Orchid Business Group has won a 100MW solar tender floated by the utility Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP).

Global off-grid solar company BBOXX has closed on a US$5 million financing facility with Deutsche Asset Management’s fund Essential Capital Consortium that will help it bring power to 150,000 Rwandans.

Uganda-based off-grid and home PV firm SolarNow has received a US$6 million syndicated off-grid solar financing facility.

Acciona Energía and Saudi Arabian firm Swicorp are to build and own three solar PV plants with a combined capacity of 186MW in the Benban solar complex in Aswan, Egypt.

Senegal’s Electricity Regulatory Commission (CRSE) has issued Request for Proposals (RFPs) for 100MW of solar projects to be built in three regions.

Off-grid solar company M-KOPA Solar has secured US$80 million in committed debt financing, which will be used over the next three years to provide financing for pay-as-you-go PV projects in one million homes in Africa.

State-run utility Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has issued a request for qualification (RfQ) for two solar PV projects each with a capacity of 125MW.

India will hold its second RE-INVEST event on 7-9 December 2017 to take stock of its renewable energy progress in the last three years and show off the progress of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) that it brought to the world stage at COP21.

Total has bought a stake in renewables developer Eren RE to help finance and accelerate its renewable energy projects.