Nairobi, Kenya – The Green Mini Grid Facility Kenya (GMG Facility), a financing program aiming at the promotion of private initiatives in green mini-grids has today launched its second call for proposals in August 2018.  The GMG Facility supports mini grid projects and ultimately enhancing access to energy, supporting economic development while improving the wellbeing of the most vulnerable populations in Kenya.

Starting in 2016, IED engaged with stakeholders in Kenya and launched the first call for proposals resulting in technical assistance and grant awards.  Technical assistance was provided to developers of green mini-grid projects.  The TA includes feasibility studies, demand assessments, tariff studies, business and financial modeling, environmental impact assessment, and community advisory services.  Eur5million in grant funding is under contract with an additional Eur3.9 grant funds available to provide assistance to GMG projects.   

About the Green Mini Grid Facility Kenya

The GMG Facility is funded by DFID and co-funded by the European Union Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund, and provides grants and technical assistance for promoting private sector mini grid development in Kenya. The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is the implementing partner of the Facility.  AFD has contracted with Innovation Energie Développement (IED), and is leading the day to day operations of the Facility as the Managing Entity, in association with I-DEV and Practical Action Consulting.

The Kenyan Constitution recognizes access to energy as a basic human right. Subsequently, the Kenyan Government is committed to ensuring that all Kenyans have this access by the year 2020, in line with Vision 2030. The GMG Facility was established to support the Government’s commitment towards Kenya’s electrification, and is expected to transform the lives of no less than 100,000 Kenyans who currently do not have access to modern energy services.

The GMG Facility is providing Output-based Grants and Technical Assistance to mini grid developers in Kenya. These Investment and Connection-based Grants will help developers scale their ongoing projects, whereas the Technical Assistance provides support to mini-grid developers during feasibility, development and execution phases of mini grid development.

For more information contact:

The Green Mini Grid Facility Kenya managing entity: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information on the GMG Facility Kenya visit: www.gmgfacilitykenya.org

02/11/2018

The Decree on the Regulatory Framework for Off-Grid Electrification in the Republic of Benin was approved by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, October 3, 2018!

This decree is the culmination of an initiative begun in 2017 to provide people in remote areas of Benin, which can not be connected to the national power grid for many years, in viable and financially accessible electrical services.

This initiative of the Beninese government, supported by the "Access to Energy" project of the Second Compact, funded by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCC), implemented by IED, led to the development of:

- An innovative off-grid electrification policy using renewable energies (especially solar photovoltaic), smart prepayment metering (to control its consumption according to its payment capacity), and private sector operators for the financing, installation and operation of electrification solutions,

- A master plan for off-grid electrification, offering for all municipalities in Benin (around 1.2 million people) the options offered: mini networks powered by solar power plants or individual solutions for solar kits and lamps. Beneficiaries, households, social infrastructure (schools, health centers, police stations, etc.), rural entrepreneurs, will all benefit from the improvement of their domestic comfort, education, health and safety services. , public lighting and installations of drilling / pumping equipment promoting access to water (drinking and irrigation).

- Regulatory framework for off-grid electrification, defining and controlling the activities of private operators, who will have exploitation titles granted by the licensing authority, in this case the Beninese Rural Electrification Agency (ABERME), after obtaining the assent of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ARE).

19/10/2018

Benin: towards the mobile money for the payment of electricity!

The PRERA project, in Benin, aims to access 50,000 new subscribers to the national electricity operator SBEE - between 650 and 800,000 beneficiaries who will benefit directly from electricity for their domestic and social needs. (health, education, etc.) and economic:

- in Calavi, the "dormitory city" of Cotonou with more than one million inhabitants,

- and in 80 villages of the Atlantic Department (on the Calavi-Allada road).

In addition to its crucial role of prime contractor for the control of all works, IED is in charge of the social intermediation of the project, or how to concretely reach the targeted populations, how to make effective new connections to the network? For this, IED has deployed a team of investigators in the field, which between March and August 2018 has already sent on tablet (with GPS referencing) more than 10,000 potential subscribers - households, schools, health centers, micro-entrepreneurs. In parallel, IED is currently putting together an innovative solution to collect connection fees for these new subscribers via mobile money, in partnership with the two mobile operators MTN and MOOV of Benin. A first in Benin, which hopefully will demonstrate to the SBEE that it is also possible to switch to paying bills via mobile money!

05/10/2018

The 35th EU PVSEC takes place 24-28 September 2018 in Brussels (https://www.photovoltaic-conference.com/). A poster designed by IED will be displayed at this event, on PVPS booth.

Indeed, IED recently completed a PVPS study on PV self-consumption policies comparison in various emerging countries*.

More information: Download the report from https://www.ied-sa.fr/fr/ressources-documentaires/publications.html (available from October 2018)

*This study is co-financed by ADEME, and results from IED involvement the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS). PVPS is one of the collaborative R&D Agreements established within the International Energy Agency (http://www.iea-pvps.org/). See previous News for further info on the study.   24th September 2018