News and feature articles on microgrids in Africa including RFP's, policies and players impacting the region.
Sachi Graber of the Rocky Mountain Institute describes a $200 million opportunity in Nigeria to develop undergrid minigrids, projects that shore up electricity for those served by unreliable grids. Traditionally in sub-Saharan Africa, electrification efforts have emphasized the hundreds of millions of people who live off-grid, with no … [Read more...]
Until December 2017, Kilowatt Labs was still a startup company, developing supercapacitor-based energy storage and an energy server that’s designed to manage distributed energy. But after the company delivered its first product in January, Kilowatt Labs attracted more business than expected. Most recently, it garnered a $2.5 million … [Read more...]
Researchers at the University of Rwanda and Colorado State University's (CSU) Energy Institute have joined forces to create microgrids that will provide energy access to rural, off-grid communities in Rwanda and across Sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda's government estimates that only 20 percent of the population has access to reliable, safe … [Read more...]
Utilities see microgrids and related technologies as future revenue opportunities to help counter dampened profits from their traditional services, according to a new study from Accenture. The finding came from a survey of 150 utility executives across more than 25 countries, part of Accenture’s Digitally Enabled Grid research program, now … [Read more...]
UC San Diego connects electric vehicles to microgrid The University of California San Diego continues to advance its already advanced microgrid universe of technologies, this time with electric vehicle-to-grid capabilities for its free nighttime shuttle service, Triton Rides. The program is part of "INVENT," a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program that … [Read more...]
Schneider Electric and software company Arensis will team up to develop smart microgrids using blockchain to help those in remote areas of the world make electricity transactions. A major player in microgrids, Schneider Electric has already delivered several distributed energy projects with California-based Arensis. The companies will now … [Read more...]
Renewvia has completed two Kenya microgrids on islands in Lake Victoria and expects to bring a third online soon as part of its larger strategy to light up rural Africa. The Atlanta, Georgia company is positioning to develop 43 solar-storage systems in Kenya and neighboring Uganda and Nigeria, CEO Trey Jarrard told Microgrid … [Read more...]
A forecast issued this week by Navigant Research identifies several new trends emerging in the global microgrid market as it moves toward becoming a $30.9 billion industry by 2027. The number of vendors in the arena has increased dramatically. Utilities, once seen as obstructers to microgrids, are now building their own. Microgrid growth is … [Read more...]
Minigrids represent a $20 billion business opportunity in Nigeria and a chance to improve the lives of over half the population that remain without electricity, according to a report released today. Prepared by the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the report focuses on how lack of electricity impedes business … [Read more...]
Looking to boost badly needed decentralized energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, a business-to-business microgrid company in Boulder, Colo. says it has jump-started a pipeline of more than 550 mini-grid projects via its web-based project management software. Odyssey Energy Solutions is streamlining development of mini-grids (the term used in Africa … [Read more...]
Articles on electric vehicles, energy-as-a-service and energy storage drew the largest number of readers to Microgrid Knowledge’s Industry Perspectives column in 2018. S&C Electric, Dynamic Energy Networks, Ameresco, NRDC and AFCOM provided the most read contributions.
The new energy industry is working to categorize the various types of microgrids and business models. The primary goal is to minimize microgrid system cost and funding. To learn more about microgrid business modes and value chains download this white paper.
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