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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

US to provide $2.6mn to fund

solar in sub-Saharan Africa

AFRICA WASHINGTON-BASED Power Africa and the OffGridBox (Rwanda); OnePower (Lesotho);
United States Agency for International Develop- PEG Solar (Ghana); SolarWorks! (Mozambique)
ment (USAID) are to provide $2.6mn in grants and Zuwa Energy (Malawi).
to help solar companies provide off-grid power The nine will provide off-grid solar electric-
to healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. ity to a total of 288 healthcare facilities in nine
Power Africa, which supports US investment countries.
in power infrastructure in Africa, is to use the “Through these grants, USAID is investing
money from USAID to support nine solar pro- in a set of pilot projects that demonstrate how
jects in the health sector across Africa. healthcare electrification can be delivered in a
Power Africa said that 60% of all healthcare commercially sustainable manner, with strong
facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to private sector involvement,” said David Stone-
electricity, while only 34% of hospitals and 28% hill, the lead for Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid
of health clinics have reliable, 24-hour access. initiative.
“Solar energy holds great potential to expand “These grants demonstrate the Power Africa
and improve healthcare delivery in sub-Saharan model in action: We use a modest amount of
Africa, and off-grid solar technology offers a public funding to de-risk transactions, thus
clean, affordable and smart solution to electrify opening the door for private investment.”
healthcare facilities located beyond the reach of The projects range from rural healthcare facil-
national electricity grids,” said Mark Carrato, ities in Nigeria, providing automatic hand-wash-
Power Africa Acting Co-ordinator. ing stations and phone charging in Togo and
“Power Africa’s experience shows that off-grid electrifying staff housing in Zambia.
solar energy systems can be rapidly deployed to In Rwanda, OffGridBox is to offer pay-as-
even the most rural facilities.” you-go (PAYGO) power and clean water to local
A total of nine African private off-gird opera- people, as well as supplying health clinics.
tors are to be supported: Havenhill Synergy Ltd. In technical terms, the solar installations will
(Nigeria); KYA-Energy Group (Togo); Muha- act as loads for mini-grids serving wider areas,
nya Solar Ltd. (Zambia); Nanoé (Madagascar); for example in Lesotho.™

NEWS IN BRIEF

POLICY supply the North Benghazi and Zueitina are therefore classified as safe ports. The
power plants with gas, which alleviates the remaining oil fields and ports are being
Libya’s NOC reports on suffering of the people in the greater city of evaluated according to the safety and security
Benghazi and its suburbs and provides clean
standards in force in the national oil sector.
lifting of force majeure on and regular natural gas. NOC
The ports of Hariga, Brega and Zueitina
Zueitina port

During the past two days, we conducted a
security assessment of Zueitina port and
Zueitina Oil Co. fields. The assessment
was positive and it concluded that there is
a significant improvement in the security
situation that allows National Oil Corp.
(NOC) to resume production and exports to
global markets.
Accordingly, NOC announces the lifting of
force majeure as of today, Tuesday, September
22, 2020, and the operator of Zueitina Oil Co.
has been instructed to initiate production
arrangements.
It is worth noting that Zueitina Oil Co.
is the main supplier of LPG and also an
important source for the coastline system,
which enables the rest of the operators to

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 24•September•2020