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.
The European Union has provided a grant of roughly €60 million to the Philippines government for the implementation of a programme that would expand access to clean electricity services and promote new energy efficiency strategies in remote areas.
The distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, necessary in a world with millions of people without power, is being held back by a chronic shortage of skilled workers. Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has just 16,000 people working in renewable energy in a region with 600 million un-electrified people, according to the founders of a new campaign aiming to fill this skills gap.
Kazang Solar, the distribution partner of UK-headquartered off-grid solar specialist Azuri Technologies in Zambia, has been awarded US$1.6 million from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) to provide home lighting products to more than 7,000 off-grid customers in rural Zambia.
The majority of households with PV systems in East Africa have reported an increase in economic activity in the first three months of using the solar power, according to a new report from GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry.
India announces new benchmark costs for off-grid, rooftop PV, SunEQ Namibia and DBN reach financial close on 6.5MW solar project in Namibia, Pöyry awarded EPC contract for 16MW Brazil project
UK-based off-grid renewables specialist BBOXX has signed a deal with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to bring clean power to 2.5 million citizens across the African country by 2020, via off-grid solar kits and mini-grids.
India has approved implementation of Phase-Ill of its ‘Off-grid and Decentralised Solar PV Application Programme’, which targets an additional 118MW off-grid solar PV capacity by 2020, in street lights, study lamps and home systems.
The World Bank will provide a US$50 million grant for off-grid solar systems in Yemen to improve access to electricity and vital basic services in rural and outlying urban areas.
The Sindh government aims to hold auctions for 400MW of solar parks, install 15MW of rooftop solar on public buildings and reach 250,000 households with solar home systems, having released a new environmental framework.
