GVEP International has just published a Policy Briefing on innovative finance mechanisms and how they could be used to scale up investments in low carbon technologies in Africa. The two case studies examined were presented at a DFID sponsored policy conference at Chatham House in London on 28th January.
Large investments will need to be made [...]

INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN: The Minister of Energy, Dipou Peters, has published the Integrated Resource Plan for energy. However, WWF-SA believes the plan has failed to take into account the most recent developments at Eskom (i.e. Eskom’s proposed increase tariff application and Eskom’s announcement that construction at Kusile has been postponed). See: http://www.fin24.com
CARBON FOOTPRINT: It is [...]

In February 2008, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Energy approved an ambitious plan to produce 20% of total electricity from renewable energies by 2020, including a 12% contribution from wind energy. This translates into more than 7,200 MW of grid-connected wind farms. The plan gives enough room for private investors to play a major role [...]

What happened recently in Southern Africa? Our Southern Africa Regional Secretariat put together a short list of the most important new from the region:
Electricity: Cabinet has approved the Integrated Resource Plan (IPR), formulated under the Electricity Regulation Act, and it will guide government on how it can meet the country’s electricity demands. see: http://www.buanews.gov.za
Air pollution: [...]

According to several observers there´s one major obstacle at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in order to agree on a binding political agreement.  It’s the issue on compensation for developing countries from the developed world. Africa is demanding billions of dollars in compensation from rich countries to cope with climate change, because it contributes [...]

‘Briquettes’ are proving to be a potential alternative to the standard use of environmentally damaging fuels such as firewood, kerosene and charcoal in the Rongo district of Kenya.
Through the Developing Energy Enterprises Project (DEEP) East Africa, GVEP International along with partner organizations in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya are looking at various ways of supporting the [...]

In 2008 donor countries have pledged over US$6 billion to the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) that were designed as an interim measure to strengthen the global knowledge base for low-carbon and climate-resilient growth solutions by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change The money will be used for demonstration projects that will implement climate change [...]

Some 365 wind turbines will be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya to create the biggest wind farm in Africa. Once completed in 2012, the farm will have a capacity of 300 megawatts. The £533 million (USD895 million) project, backed by the African Development Bank, will have a quarter of Kenya’s current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world. The German consortium working on the project has leased 66,000 hectares of the world’s largest permanent desert lake. Extreme temperatures generate extreme winds and this is the reason wind farms have great potential in Africa.

One of the most ambigious renewable energy projects has had a sound start in Munich this week: Destertec. Within the next three years there are to be concrete plans for  solar thermal plants in North Africa, the initiators, twelve major companies, said. Whilst there is still technical research to be done, the main objective now [...]

In November 2006, the UK Foreign Ministry offset their 2004 air travel emissions via CERs from a 10MW South African wind farm developed by Genesis Eco-Energy. Now more than two years later, Mainstream Renewable Power has signed a joint venture deal for the development of 500MW of wind power in South Africa. Mainstream’s founders are [...]