Sub-Saharan Africa

Germany advanced its hydrogen ambitions this week with a fresh call for the International Green Hydrogen Promotion Program in Latin America, a collaborative deal with the UK government, and a tie-up between DHL and Sasol for sustainable aviation fuels based on green hydrogen (eSAF).

Researchers in Sweden investigated the complex non-linear tradeoffs between capacity expansion costs and reliability levels of off-grid PV mini-grids and found that capacity expansion based solely on cost-minimization may result in several reliability issues.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, explains that the climatology of Africa leads to very different seasonal generation patterns from what European solar producers experience. Data analysed by Solcast, via the Solcast API, shows this seasonal variance from summer to winter in 2023.

The South African authorities awarded project agreements to two wind-solar-storage hybrid projects that were selected in a 2 GW tech-neutral tender held under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) in 2021.

In its latestt monthly column for pv magazine, the International Renewable Energy Agency explains that, in order to realize Africa’s vast potential, we must ensure there is adequate investment and infrastructure development to support renewable energy. In the coming years, this means urgently overcoming the structural barriers across three priorities: infrastructure, policy, and institutional capabilities.

A team of researchers from Norway analyzed a case study of a cascade hydropower system hybridized with both floating and ground mounted PV under sub-Saharan African market conditions. It found that hybrid systems can reduce seasonal variability in renewable energy generation and increase annual producer profits under both PPA and spot market schemes.

Gambia’s Sustainable Energy Services Company is launching a tender to install 1,100 PV systems, ranging from 2 kW to 240 kW in size, on 1,000 schools and 99 health facilities.

Acwa Power and Eni have signed a hydrogen development deal, while AFC Energy has signed an agreement with Tamgo to sell hydrogen generators.

IEA-PVPS has published a new handbook that provides support for Technological Innovation System (TIS) analysis for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

As the global North ponders e-mobility dilemmas such as how to source sufficient materials to meet electric car demand, fresh evidence has emerged of how solar can decarbonize transport and farming in Africa.