Crossboundary offers up its mini grids business model for African peers to benefit
The Kenyan financial services business has been developing rural mini grids across Africa and has announced plans to show its rivals how such networks can thrive, in a bid to accelerate access to electricity on the continent.
Ignite Power solar ‘Extreme Affordability Plan’ gains traction in Rwanda
Pan-African developer and financier of distributed infrastructure projects, Ignite Power is providing solar solutions to many low-income rural dwellers in Rwanda through its ‘Extreme Affordability Plan’, setting the Eastern African country on course to achieve its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2035.
From Rwanda to Riverside, California: How the US solar industry gave opportunities to an immigrant entrepreneur
When Covid-19 hit his small solar engineering business, chief executive Methode Maniraguha said: ‘No furloughs or layoffs – we’ll pivot.’
Financing African projects remains a struggle
Innoenergy’s recent conference in Berlin repeated the argument financing renewable energy projects in Africa remains a struggle, however it also showcased some hopeful case studies.
The rise and rise of Bboxx: Off-grid solar supplier lands another $50m
The solar home system company, which enables customers to pay their solar electricity bill through an app on their mobile on a PAYG basis, has conducted a monumental funding round as it eyes expansion to become a fully-fledged pay-as-you-go utility.
Bboxx secures $8 million loan to boost Rwanda operations
The off-grid solar system supplier has received the finance in Rwandan francs to mitigate currency risk and expand operations in its biggest market.
BBOXX secures $31m investment – as well as a top eco prize
Topping off a great week for the British next generation utility platform, BBOXX won the Zayed Energy Prize after receiving funding from the Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers fund to speed up roll out of its platform in Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
GE and Renewvia installing new off-grid systems in Africa
The two companies have installed systems in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo to provide a cheap, secure energy supply. BloombergNEF has predicted the market for off-grid solar will grow considerably as it can meet the needs for universal energy supply at a cost competitive price.
Pilot brings pv-magazine.com to off-grid Rwandan communities
Wifi hotspots powered by PV will bring internet access to remote communities for the first time under a scheme run by a ‘next generation utility’ which hopes to expand to provide more conventional utility services in future.
Off-grid solar boosts income by 50% of household GDP in Africa – study
Gogla has released a report showing the positive economic effects of deploying small-scale pay-as-you-go solar systems in off-grid regions. More than half of the survey’srespondents reported having increased economic activity, with many of those starting new businesses or significantly increasing their household income.
