Finance

Multiple wind turbines set against a sunset sky
Finance

Making Just Energy Transition in South Africa Happen

A commitment to long-term decarbonisation in South Africa is set to reinvigorate investment opportunities in the country’s energy sector. Eskom Holdings Just Energy Transition General Manager Mandy Rambharos talks to Bill Lumley. What are the key challenges and opportunities for Just Energy transition in South Africa? With coal-fired utilities accounting for 88% of South Africa’s […]
Finance

African Energy Data

Africa’s electricity supply industry gaining momentum despite crises and delays. In common with other industries, Africa’s power sector has suffered major challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in delays, cancelled projects, and new ways of working. Problems remain, but there are indications that some momentum is returning. 2021 marked a low point for new capacity […]
Finance

Keeping the Funds Flowing into Africa’s Offgrid Projects

Innovative financing solutions are helping investment to keep flowing into African offgrid renewables projects despite the difficult operating environment. Fresh funding for offgrid solar projects in Africa has been more costly and harder to come by in the last two years than it was prior to the Covid pandemic, but that doesn’t mean investors are […]
Finance

Making Egypt a Green Hub

Yehia Zaki talks to Bill Lumley about the way the SCZONE is embracing renewables and its ambitions for becoming a hub for renewable energy products in Africa and the region. Eng. Yehia Zaki is the Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), an Egyptian Authority responsible for the management and the operation of 461 […]
Finance

Africa Seeks more Far-Reaching Climate Policy and Finance

The COP26 climate change summit fell short of delivering fully on its promise in terms of support for sustainable energy and other climate change measures in Africa. Can COP27 in Egypt make up for the shortcomings of Glasgow? Many regions of Africa felt the health impacts of the Covid pandemic less strongly than other parts […]
Finance

Going Private

IPPs across Africa are growing in size and scale, thanks to their ability to attract a more diverse array of financing. James Gavin reports. Over time, independent power projects (IPPs) have emerged as Africa’s fastest growing energy sector structures, spreading in popularity across borders and meeting with a surfeit of investment as private sector backers […]
Finance

Kenya Seeks to Maximise Benefits from ‘Baseload’ Renewables

Kenya’s geothermal and hydropower resources have been major contributors to the country’s success in boosting electricity access rates, but can they play a major role in meeting surging energy demand in the future? Kenya has been one of Africa’s success stories in terms of progress towards the UN global Sustainable Development Goal of achieving universal […]
Finance

Funds in focus

Attracting institutional investors and pensions funds to Africa’s energy transition remains a challenge in a world in flux. But where there’s a will, there’s usually a way, explains Jackson Foley. The announcement of a new ‘African Energy Transition Bank’ in mid-May has highlighted the problems facing energy financing on the continent. The bank’s two backers, […]
Finance

Not by renewables alone

How do renewables stack up against traditional forms of energy in Africa? As Jackson Foley reports, it’s a shifting picture – but don’t count out coal just yet. “Africa is not a country” is the title of a new book seeking to correct foreigners’ views of the continent. Its author wants her international readers to see Africa just as its own peoples see it: huge, varied and facing many different circumstances. Anyone who works in the African energy sector knows this already. There are vast differences between the markets in Egypt and Equatorial Guinea or between Senegal and South Africa. There is no ‘one size fits all solution’ to the continent’s yawning electricity gaps.
Finance

William Kamkwamba To Discuss ‘Empowerment And Energy Access’ At The Youth Energy Summit (Yes!)

“Our vision is to empower 100,000 more ‘Williams’ by aef 2029 to close the gap between population growth and energy access.  The initiatives are there, the need is there, the entrepreneurs are everywhere and YES! is here to identify them and provide them the tools to succeed…” Harry Gibson, EnergyNet William will be joined by: •           Joseph […]
Finance

Expand And Diversify: Aiim Invests In Starsight’s Distributed Generation Solutions

AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT MANAGERS (AIIM) DEVELOPS AND MANAGES PRIVATE EQUITY INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS DESIGNED TO INVEST LONGTERM INSTITUTIONAL UNLISTED EQUITY IN AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. Interview with Damilola Agbaje – AIIM Investment Director. AIIM actively manages investments in East, West and Southern Africa and has equity under management of USD 2.0 billion with a track record extending […]
Finance

Africa’s Energy Transition — Aspirations Versus Reality

AFRICA FACES A PARALLEL IMPERATIVE OF PROVIDING ELECTRICITY ACCESS TO MILLIONS OF CITIZENS CURRENTLY DEPRIVED OF IT, AND ALSO TO ALIGN WITH THE GLOBAL TRANSITION TO A NET ZERO FUTURE – AN ARTICLE BY PATRICIA TILLER, PARTNER AT HUNTON ANDREWS KURTH Africa is home to one-sixth of the global population, yet the continent accounts for […]

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