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Egypt seeks Kenya’s help in

row with Ethiopia over Nile
dam

Egyptians are seeking Kenya’s support to help
Cairo reach an amicable solution on the use of
the waters of the Nile, after Ethiopia erected a
dam along the river.
The revelation came out of a meeting
between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his
the mini-grids sector in Nigeria,” said Fabio Dutch FMO invests $5mn host Abdel Fattah al-Sissi this week as the
De Pascale, CEO, NXT Grid. former stopped over from France.
With the further advance of market in Bihar-based mini-grid A statement from Kenya’s State House
available mini-grid technologies and the only indicated that they discussed subjects of
reduction in mini-grid equipment costs, developer Husk Power mutual interest “among them regional peace
renewable energy sources in combination with and security, trade and Africa’s response to
mini-grid systems are slowly gaining ground. Husk Power Systems, a Bihar-based off-grid Covid-19.”
By 2030 renewable energy sources are renewable energy start-up, has received But the Egyptian officials said the two
predicted to power over 60% of new energy $5-million funding from Dutch development leaders had agreed to work closely on the issue
access connections and about 50% of these bank FMO, the company said in a press of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
connections will be realised through mini- release on Tuesday. (GERD) currently under construction on the
grid systems, underpinned by new business “We are honored to have FMO as an Blue Nile.
models using digital and mobile technologies. investor and partner in Husk Power. Not only “The meeting touched on the latest
For SSA alone up to 200,000 mini-grids will the investment be a catalyst for Husk to regional developments of mutual interest,
are needed to connect 450 million people achieve its ambitious mini-grid roll-out plan, especially in relation to the issue of the
according to the International Energy Agency, it gives us a partner with deep knowledge renaissance dam, where it was agreed to
requiring a capital investment of at least $93 and experience in scaling innovative energy intensify coordination between the two
billion by 2030 to reach the target to establish technology companies like Husk Power countries in the coming period on this
81 million connections. 2030 is the year the to focus on promoting productive uses of sensitive and vital issue,” a spokesperson for
UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) energy,” said Manoj Sinha, chief executive al-Sissi said.
is slated to be achieved and mini-grids are an officer, Husk Power. Ethiopia is putting up the GERD, worth
essential part of the work to be done. The power company operates renewable about $4.8 billion raised entirely from local
Yet, in its “State of the Global Mini-Grids energy mini-grids in Asia and Africa. contributions.
Market Report 2020,” BloombergNEF and The $5mn investment from FMO, was
Sustainable Energy for All reported that only deployed from its Infrastructure Development
some 2,000 mini-grids were installed and Fund, followed by a $20mn investment
operational in SSA as of the beginning of in 2018 by Shell, Swedfund, and ENGIE SOL AR
2020. Rassembleurs D’Energies.
NXT Grid’s cloud-based platform, Keesjan de Kruijf, principal investment Ghana to Save $3 Billion
based on smart automation algorithms, in officer, FMO, said that the bank considers
combination with NXT Grid’s rental offering mini-grids as the key to unlocking a successful Under New Energy Accord
to local developers is key to reaching the rural distributed energy sector, both off- and
scalability and acceleration needed to achieve under-the-grid, as it brings affordable and With Cenpower
the ambitious universal energy access targets. reliable clean power to MSMEs and residential
“To close the massive energy access gap in customers in rural areas in developing Cenpower Generation Co., an independent
Nigeria, we need continuous innovation. NXT markets. power producer in Ghana, will switch to using
Grid’s low cost mini-grid model offers a new “Husk’s relentless drive for cost efficiency natural gas instead of light crude oil to fuel its
way to scale mini-grids rapidly with multiple and customer centric business model ensures electricity plants under an agreement that will
partners,” said All On Investment Manager, it is able to position itself both competitively save the government $3 billion over the next
Afolabi Akinrogunde. “We are excited about and profitably, both of which are key enablers two decades, Bloomberg reported.
this investment and confident that leveraging to truly scale this solution,” said Kruijf. The deal is among a series of power deals
their technology tools and access to finance The Dutch bank in its latest publication that the government is renegotiating with
we will be able to provide the market another had called Husk Power as ‘the energy independent producers to cut costs, the
alternative to lighting up thousands of disruptors looking to move the needle’ on Finance Ministry said in an emailed statement
households and small businesses across the energy poverty in rural Africa and Asia. Wednesday. Ghana began renegotiating power
country.” HUSK POWER SYSTEMS deals with IPPs in November.
NXT GRID Accra-based Cenpower, in which
Sumitomo Corp., Africa Finance Corp. and

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