africa

Africa remains one of the most difficult markets to penetrate, riddled by bankability issues and a distinct lack of the right kind of strategic partnerships. To expedite and support solar investment on the continent, SolarPower Europe and the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) have teamed up to facilitate business cooperation between African and European stakeholders.

Global off-grid solar company BBOXX announced Tuesday that it had closed a US$20 million Series C investment.

Not-for-profit GivePower Foundation, created by US firm SolarCity, has installed the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first minigrid using solar and battery storage at Virunga National Park.

It’s the globe’s second largest continent, home to the some of the world’s fastest growing economies, and it has supplied precious resources to nations for hundreds of years - so why do today’s solar PV businesses find it so difficult to succeed in Africa? PV Tech spoke with Jon Sarpong, president of PV developer and consultancy Avior Global, about the challenges and opportunities for PV companies eyeing up the African market.

Independent power producer (IPP) Sonnedix has reached commercial operation on an 86MW solar PV plant in South Africa, after only 17 months of construction.

Bill Gates once again shunned solar power from his vision for energy access in Africa in his talk at the University of Pretoria in South Africa on Sunday, where he argued that whilst “cheap, clean energy” is what Africa needs, solar does not fit the bill.

Canadian energy company Nova Scotia Power Development Limited (NSPDL) has partnered with CDIL, a fellow Canadian renewable energy company with projects focused in Africa, for an 80MW ground-mount solar project in Nigeria.

Federal government-owned public liability, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), has signed the country’s first ever solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with more than ten project developers, totalling 975MW of utility-scale solar.

The second Solar and Off-Grid Renewables West Africa event in Ghana in April heard mixed views on the progress of solar in the region. But with the first projects reaching completion and others moving forward, brighter times seem to be around the corner. Tom Kenning reports

A panel of development finance institutions and project developers at the annual Africa Energy Forum on Friday discussed how they are shaping the continent’s emerging energy sector; in taking on the risk that commercial capital typically will not.