A new initiative has been started to improve access to electricity in Africa. It is an alliance between off-grid provider Renewvia Energy Corporation and Dream Projects Incubators (DPI), a company specialising in the development and financing of solar energy projects at the level of both utilities (on grid, editor’s note) and off grid (off grid, editor’s note) projects.
The two companies have decided to join forces to provide solar off grid in Nigeria and Kenya. Easy to install and less expensive, these off-grid solar systems are very well suited for the electrification of rural areas. The two companies estimate that their alliance will bring electricity to millions of people.
“DPI assessed the potential for off-grid projects in sub-Saharan Africa and found that the most effective way to take a stand is through a well-established operational platform,” says Kazuomi Kaneto, DPI’s managing director. The partnership between DPI and Renewvia Energy is supported by the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD). The two financial institutions have thus decided to partially finance the first 10 solar off-grid projects of Renewvia Energy Corporation and DPI.
In addition, Renewvia Energy’s Nigerian and Kenyan subsidiaries received a “performance-based subsidy for each new connection in off-grid Nigerian communities and an investment based subsidy for Kenya” from the World Bank. This new initiative is expected to increase Renewvia Energy’s installed capacity in Africa.
In September 2019, the Atlanta-based company commissioned a solar off grid that provides electricity to households in Kalobeyei, a town in Turkana County in western Kenya.
Jean Marie Takouleu