Access Power and FMO launch second edition of Solar ‘Shark Tank’ Competition for Innovative Solar Projects

GOGLA, main supporter of scalability in the off-grid market, together with Lighting Global, a World Bank Group platform aimed at encouraging sustainable growth in the global off-grid solar market, recently published a report on the global off-grid solar market analyzing data from semi-annual sales and data from the impact of the market.

We’ve compiled an overview of the top 50 solar PV projects in emerging markets with the purpose of showing the market potential of solar power in developing regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Therefore we excluded the more advanced and developed solar markets in Asia (China, India, Japan), North America and Europe. This list of solar PV projects comes in preparation of our 2-day conference, Making Solar Bankable set to be held in Amsterdam on the 15-16th of February, 2018.

Developers are beginning to find there is plenty of space for solar between North and South Africa.  

Today, at the COP21 in Paris, the Climate Investor One facility was officially launched by the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Mrs. Lilianne Ploumen. Representatives of the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and Denmark's Export Credit Agency (EKF) attended the ceremony.

The end of the first week of the Paris climate talks is approaching, with limited progress reported so far. Carbon Pulse continues to publish updates throughout the day of key developments in the negotiations as well as on the sidelines.

Over the next few years the Netherlands is to provide access to green energy for 50 million of the world’s poorest people. The plan is outlined by foreign trade and development minister Lilianne Ploumen in the government’s response to an independent evaluation of her climate policy, which was sent to the House of Representatives yesterday.

The conditions in the Vietnamese markets including its high solar irradiation, growing electricity demand, and potential risks associated to energy generation through carbon-based fuels, provide an excellent potential for the development of solar PV projects.

Thailand’s 2014 military coup has had “virtually no impact on the legal side,” insiders say.

“Arise, shine for your light has come,” reads a sign at the entrance to the first major solar power farm in east Africa. The 8.5 megawatt (MW) power plant in Rwanda is designed so that, from a bird’s-eye view, it resembles the shape of the African continent. “Right now we’re in Somalia,” jokes Twaha Twagirimana, the plant supervisor, during a walkabout of the 17-hectare site.

A carbon tax law currently under discussion in South Africa will likely benefit solar even though there is uncertainty over some details.

With the ongoing talks in Paris on Climate Change and new energy crises happening as the region prepares for its summer, it becomes clear that clean energy is on top of the minds of stakeholders in the Southern African region.

Latin American solar markets in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Central America are garnering plenty of attention. Where is next?

We all know the story of how mobile phones took off in emerging markets. Suddenly small cocoa farmers in Africa who never had a landline or a computer were checking commodity prices on their smartphones.

U2 frontman Bono pays a visit to American-owned Gigawatt Global facility in Rwanda.

DFIs have been investing for some time to support African infrastructure development. As financing becomes more available and new players are emerging, governments and DFIs must focus on nurturing new projects.

Concerns over low-quality components being used in the scramble to finish plants comes amid questions of what bankability really means.

Up from just 5% in 2013, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says renewable energies could meet 22% of Africa’s energy needs by 2030.

As a development bank, FMO routinely carries out impact studies, in order to assess the value and impact of FMO’s investment in a certain area.

THE LAB - The UK government has announced a £50 million commitment of existing funding to the Climate Development and Finance Facility that will help fast-track renewable energy projects in developing countries.

The appetite for solar may be growing in new markets, but that does not mean local funding is always easy. The ability to bring international funding looks set to remain a critical success factor for developers in emerging markets even as industry bankability grows elsewhere. “If you look at what has been happening in emerging markets, on projects currently being built, the big majority have international financing… mainly multilateral financing,” said Josefin Berg, senior analyst for solar demand at IHS Technology.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a USD 55.7 million loan from its ordinary capital to finance the construction, operation and maintenance of six solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and their related facilities in Uruguay.

The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC, Washington D.C.) on July 9th, 2015 announced that IFC InfraVentures, the global infrastructure project development fund, and Scatec Solar (Oslo, Noeway), an integrated independent solar power producer, have signed documents to develop the USD 55 million Scatec Segou solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Mali with a local developer, Africa Power 1

Concern emerges over whether the government will keep its promises. Solar project developers are rushing to complete projects this month amid fears that the government may go back on its feed-in tariff (FiT) promises. Two years ago the country launched a FiT of USD$0.18 per kilowatt-hour, over 15 years, for solar projects completed before August 2015.

Foreign investors could be the key to helping India achieve its ambitious goal of installing 100 GW of solar by 2022, according to experts.

UPSIDES - Tanzania. Despite its high annual growth rate of 6.8 percent and its recent transition to a market economy, access to electricity is scarce and expensive, especially in rural areas. Electricity from renewable sources represent zero percent of total installed capacity. This is where Devergy comes in. The energy services company started its operations in Tanzania in 2012, providing highly efficient, reliable and affordable micro-grids in rural off-grid communities.