In the context of the recent agreement at COP28 in Dubai and the current state of play of urban power systems – from G7 countries to emerging markets and developing economies – this report analyses the steps needed to achieve net zero emissions from electricity, and considers the wider implications …
Electricity access enhances access to quality essential health care services while making health systems more resilient. In the education sphere, access to electricity enables lighting and extended studying hours; facilitation of information, communication and technology (ICT); enhanced staff retention and teacher training; among other benefits. This report uses case studies …
Off-grid rural electrification options using crop and woody residues in Côte d’Ivoire show that if all crop and forest residues estimated as available could be used, an estimated 2 million people could be supplied with electricity using two types of technology: combustion and gasification. This supply would cover 57 percent …
The number of Rwandan households connected to electricity increased from 10 percent in 2010 to 51 percent as of February 2019, the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) said in a statement on Monday. Among the households which have access to electricity, 37 percent are connected to the national grid while 14 …
Switching subsides from kerosene to off-grid solar would benefit the millions of Indian households that suffer frequent blackouts or that cannot afford grid electricity. A range of off-grid solar products is now cheaper than kerosene over the lifespan of the technology. Surveys also indicate that people strongly prefer off-grid solar …
The off-grid energy sector continues to have a tremendous funding gap. Aggregation has great potential to channel finance into the millions of off-grid projects and products that will make universal energy access by 2030 possible. By bringing together projects and companies into portfolios, aggregation can reduce transaction costs and mitigate …
The African Development Bank's board has approved a $20 million facility to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to support renewable-based, mini-grid solutions to the off-grid cities of Isiro, Bumba and Genema. According to the development bank, the green mini-grid programme will serve as the pilot to an innovative private-led …
Off-grid renewable energy developer, Winch Energy has signed a contract with the Ministry of Energy in Sierra Leone to provide electricity to 24 towns and villages through solar mini-grids as part of a public-private partnership project. The Rural Renewable Energy Project (RREP) is supported by UK aid grant funding and …
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) produces comprehensive renewable energy statistics on a range of topics. This publication presents renewable power generation capacity statistics in trilingual tables for the last decade (2009 - 2018). Renewable power generation capacity is measured as the maximum net generating capacity of power plants and …
Off-grid solutions can be designed to provide affordable electricity to poor communities in hard-to-reach areas but receive only a fraction of annual global investment in energy provision. Governments hoping to harness these technologies to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 — universal access to energy by 2030 — must therefore find …
Aware that the growing deployment of renewables has set in motion a global energy transformation with significant implications for geopolitics, Adnan Z. Amin, the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), with the support of the Governments of Germany, Norway and the United Arab Emirates, convened the Global Commission …
The world is steadily progressively towards universal access to electricity, with access rates in rural areas growing rapidly. Current technologies and the solutions can dramatically accelerate the growth trajectory of electricity access. This brief by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) takes stock of the opportunity at hand – detailing …
For communities in rural Africa to thrive, energy services must be affordable and reliable. But this is not enough. Energy services must be built around productive uses of energy (PUE) from the start: PUE activities are crucial to boosting demand for off-grid energy systems, while generating valuable income for remote …
Worldwide, around 1 billion people currently lack access to electricity, the vast majority in rural areas. A real opportunity exists to now meet this challenge with private sector solutions for off-grid renewable energy, either via solar-battery mini-grids or solar home systems. This report, Derisking Renewable Energy Investment: Off Grid Electrification, …
Worldwide, around 1 billion people currently lack access to electricity, the vast majority in rural areas. A real opportunity exists to now meet this challenge with private sector solutions for off-grid renewable energy, either via solar-battery mini-grids or solar home systems. This report, Derisking Renewable Energy Investment: Off Grid Electrification, …
In many countries, the production of off-grid electricity from renewables is largely unrecorded, but is believed to be expanding rapidly. This trend has been driven by numerous factors, including falling costs, innovation and supportive public policies. Many of the new electricity producers are households and enterprises generating electricity for their …
The Government has borrowed $269 million (Rwf237 billion) from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to invest in sustainable, affordable and reliable electricity services. The loan agreement was signed on Tuesday. The concessional loan will be disbursed under the second phase of the Scale up Electricity Access Program (SEAPII), which is …
Countries have adopted a range of approaches to the development of mini-grids, aiming to extend energy access to underserved areas or communities. Existing regulations, however, have often been inadequate to de-risk and finance such investments. Off-grid renewables need to be woven into regional and national electrification planning processes as early …
Kenyans can expect to pay less for electricity upon the inauguration of the region’s largest solar plant next month, in the northeastern part of the country. The 55MW Garissa plant comes as East Africa is increasingly feeding solar into the national grid, and two years after the launch of Uganda’s …
Energy and development experts from across Africa and beyond have called for renewed urgency in the drive to light up and power the continent. With close to 600 million Africans still lacking electricity, they argue that Africa's power deficit must be considered both a crisis and an opportunity to fast-track …
Off-grid renewable energy solutions have emerged as mainstream and support the expanding access to modern energy services in a timely and environmentally sustainable manner. Off-grid renewables are able to deliver a wide spectrum of electricity services for households, public services, commercial and industrial uses. The number of people served by …
