Page 13 - AfrElec Week 11

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
the dam on Feb. 26 in Washington. Ethiopia said it didn’t go because it needed further domestic consultations before signing a deal with Egypt.
The US had crafted a draft deal after more than four months of talks on the filling and operation of the dam, and said the final testing and filling of the dam “should not take place without an agreement.” Egyptian officials have raised concerns that filing the reservoir behind the dam too quickly could significantly reduce the amount of Nile water available to Egypt.
RENEWABLES
BurkinaFasoreceivessolar DFI funding
The Fond des Energies Renouvelables pour la Résilience du Burkina Faso (FERR-BF) has offered to provide technical and financial assistance to companies that are interested
in supplying small-scale PV systems and innovative cooking stoves in Burkina Faso. It did not provide technical specifications for the solar PV products.
The fund, which is managed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and financed by the Luxembourg government, will provide $50,000 to $200,000 to companies that submit winning project bids. The FERR-BF said that preference will be given
to companies offering consumer finance or proposing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) systems and other innovative digital payment platforms.
While the FERR-BF’s call for projects is open to startups, all participating companies must be operational and registered in Burkina Faso to submit bids. In addition, winning bidders must be willing to move forward on their ideas in the Burkinabe market from the third quarter, the UNCDF said in an online statement.
The fund will offer technical assistance to startups via incubators. For more established companies, it will offer a combination of grants, loans, and technical support. Payment platforms and other financial service providers will receive similar support.
Burkina Faso is heavily dependent on fossil fuels but is determined to achieve universal access to electricity by 2025, from a current electrification rate of approximately 20%, according to International Finance Corp.
The impoverished, landlocked country had installed just 62MW of solar by the end of 2018, according to the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA).
In December, the African Development
Bank (AfDB) agreed to lend roughly EUR49mn to back the development of 208MWofsolarcapacityinthecountry.The landlocked nation’s EUR137mn Yeleen project – which comprises four 52MW solar arrays – will be implemented under the AfDB’s Desert to Power initiative in collaboration with Sonabel, the European Union, and Agence Française de Développement.
Swiss provides $5mn grant for Cameroon green SMEs
Switzerland has granted close to EUR4.6mn ($5mn) to three Cameroonian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the implementation of their water and renewable energy projects. This financing will help improve the production of the SMEs.
Sawel Water Sanitation and Environment, Experience Incorporated Cameroon and Solar Hydrowatt have the funds to finance their projects. They have each received more than EUR1.5mn (1bn CFA francs) from the Swiss Confederation.
The Cameroonian Minister of Economy, Planning and Land Management, Alamine Ousmane Mey, signed grant agreements with the heads of these three SMEs on 11 March 2020, in the presence of the Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon, Pietro Lazzeri.
The funds allocated to Sawel Water Sanitation and Environment, a company specialising in renewable energies, will enable the construction of water boreholes and solar pumping systems, irrigation and livestock watering systems.
Funding to Solar hydrowatt, a company operating in village hydraulics, will be used to install a hybrid system in Fotetsa, a group of villages in the commune of Dschang in the west of Cameroon. The installation will have a capacity of 120 kW in hydropower and 15 kWp in solar photovoltaic energy. The hybrid system will provide access to electricity for approximately 1,500 people.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Alternet Systems launches
$100mn initial coin offering
to build EVs
The US’ Alternet Systems Inc, has announced its partnership with an anonymous company to launch a crypto aimed at providing funds for manufacturing electric vehicles in Africa.
The ALYI African electric vehicle project is, however, expected to kick off with a $100mn initial coin offering (ICO) funding as the US firm announced that the crypto has successfully been minted on Ethereum blockchain.
The intended ICO for the ALYI African electric vehicle project has attracted investors for the $100mn offering, noting that they are the only firm to have partnered for the crypto initiative.
As part of plans for the ALYI African electric vehicle project, the firm is analyzing regulations on crypto and Africa and also working on its marketing strategy for the ICO as it is yet unscheduled.
The firm, also through its electric motorcycle subsidiary, has been able to manufacture an electric motorcycle and sidecar to be used in Africa. However, as the US firm is said to have signed a deal in an African country for its bikes, the money to be generated from the ICO is also to be used to fund the manufacturing of electric motorcycles.
The ALYI African electric vehicle project by the US firm and its ICO is only one out
of many foreign blockchain investments in Africa by firms in the crypto space. Among chains of foreign investors in Africa is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its $1.4mn grant to blockchain-enabled fintech Security Company will provide fintech services to Africans and Asians who don’t have access to banks.
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