Over 645millions of African, the majority living in rural areas, still do not have access to reliable sources of electricity and this number is growing as Africa is in the process of becoming the most populated continent in the world, with studies predicting it will be home to 40% of the world’s population by 2100.
Expending the existing electricity grid is not the answer to bring electricity to isolated rural areas as the cost of doing so would be unbearable for the consumer. Likewise, solar home systems, whilst they are an interesting short term fix to bring electricity to households, are not a viable energy source for small businesses and cannot support the economic development of rural populations.
In between lies the exiting world of mini-grids, which can help provide a reliable and sustainable source of electrification to households and small businesses at an affordable price. This is the demonstration that is currently being made in Kenya by the Green Mini-Grid fund (GMG), an AFD led initiative.
Amongst the GMG sponsored projects, those developed by RVE.SOL and its local subsidiary Kudura Power East Africa in Busia County, Western Kenya, are noteworthy. In this remote location overlooking Lake Victoria, not only is Kudura Power East Africa providing local communities with renewable electricity at an affordable price, it is also supporting those local communities in developing productive use of this electricity.
In spite of the sanitary crisis and the draught that affected the region in 2019-2020, Kudura’s customer base has been on the rise since the completion of the first 10 mini-grid sites in 2019 and is expected to continue its development with the imminent construction of 15 new sites.
As a shareholder of RVE.SOL and an active industrial partner of RVE.SOL and Kudura Power East Africa, Egis is proud to be part of this adventure: supporting the economic development of Africa by providing its populations with reliable and sustainable sources of electricity.
source (key figures): https://afrique.latribune.fr
