“The cost of power to the industry at 19 cents per kilowatt hour is over 30 percent of production cost to industry. The high cost of electricity tariffs continues to render industry uncompetitive” — Seth Twum Akwaboah, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Ghana Industries.
Ghana has faced a series of energy challenges, including high fuel costs to the power sector, that severely threaten economic growth. These costs have trickled down, leading to high production costs in industries, ultimately reducing Ghana’s price competitiveness in regional and world markets.
To address escalating fuel prices, Power Africa provided technical assistance to the Government…
In Nigeria, the Power Africa Aspire Women’s Leadership Development Course has equipped more than 500 women professionals in the energy sector with the skills they need to advance and excel in their careers.
A Power Africa gender analysis in Nigeria found that women are underrepresented at all levels of the power sector, including public institutions; generation, transmission, and distribution companies; and the off-grid/renewable sector. Senior management positions in the sector are predominantly filled by men.
Educate a Woman and You Educate a Nation
In October 2020, Tosin Timitimi, an energy lawyer and legal contract officer at the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, attended the first-of-its-kind…
In Eswatini, Power Africa support to the energy regulator will result in lower electricity tariffs, saving consumers around $44 million over the next two years.
Fair regulation in the energy sector creates an environment where utilities can provide reliable services to customers at reasonable prices, and gives the private sector confidence to invest in new power projects.
Balancing Utility Financial Needs and Affordability for Customers
In October 2020, the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) applied for an average tariff increase of 7.16 percent for each of the next two financial years, through 2023. This application triggered a tariff review by the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA), a typical step…
Power Africa recently expanded our All-Women Apprenticeship and Internship Program to Tanzania and Somalia, in addition to ongoing internships in Kenya and Rwanda. This program helps female graduates from universities and technical colleges acquire on-the-job training through 6- to 12-month rotational apprenticeships or internships. Ultimately, Power Africa is working toward bridging the gender diversity gap in the East African energy sector.
In Rwanda, the Women in Rwandan Energy (WIRE) apprenticeship program has placed 94 female apprentices in various energy companies, 12 of whom secured full-time jobs. …
Updated July 13, 2021
Commissioned into action on July 5, 2021, the Kipeto Wind Farm, situated 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in Kajiado County, is Kenya’s second-largest wind-power project. Comprised of 60 wind turbines supplied by Power Africa partner General Electric, Kipeto will generate 100 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity to power approximately 250,000 Kenyan households.
Power Africa lauds this breakthrough, which will see the lives of many Kenyans change for the better. This new renewable energy source also advances the Government of Kenya’s goal to achieve universal electrification by 2022. …
World Humanitarian Day & World Refugee Day 2021
COVID-19 introduced new challenges and threats to health and livelihoods, exacerbating the situation for over 80 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. The pandemic highlights their urgent needs for sustainable access to energy and other technologies, including electricity for domestic and business use, fuel for cooking, and platforms to pay for — and be paid for — goods and services.
Fulfilling these needs requires cross-sector partnerships that can finance and mobilize innovative solutions that shift focus from short-term relief towards durable service delivery.
The Smart Communities Coalition (SCC), co-founded and co-chaired by USAID/Power…
For more than 6,800 people in rural Lesotho, a clinic in the mountain village of Manamaneng and its small contingent of nurses are their only source of essential healthcare.
Yet when the lights go off and the generator doesn’t work, night-time emergencies can turn into nightmares . . .
Manamaneng’s Mamma Thato
Meriam Sesiu, a practicing midwife for over 30 years, is the head nurse at this remote clinic. Her passion for delivering quality healthcare is widely recognized, so much so that she is often referred to as Mamma Thato, meaning “mother love” among locals.
In Nigeria, an investor pitch competition gives solar home system companies the skills they need to secure investor funding.
For off-grid energy companies, securing private and public financing is critical to expanding services and product offerings and connecting homes and businesses beyond the grid to electricity. A strong, well-articulated investor pitch can accelerate a company’s ability to attract funding for their proposed solution.
However, accessing funds to scale service offerings is a challenge for many solar home system companies which must compete for limited investment funds and overcome sector barriers such as credit risk, challenges to payment infrastructure, and high…
By David Riposo, Power Africa Energy Access Officer, and Dan Schnitzer, SparkMeter CEO
A new category of digital energy management solutions is emerging, purpose-built for African grid systems.
These lean, low-cost tools empower grid operators to improve reliability by identifying weak system components before they fail. They use grid analytics to forecast supply and demand dynamics on ever shorter time horizons that can inform dispatch and drive down the unit cost of energy.
Future energy distribution ecosystems incorporating these tools will empower energy managers to control costs, improve service delivery, and incorporate ever larger fractions of renewable power capacity.
Meet Power Africa Partner and Digital Energy Pioneer: SparkMeter
To join the global movement to inspire girls to pursue careers in STEM fields and in celebration of International Girls in ICT Day (April 22, 2021), Power Africa organized a ‘West African Girls in STEM Webinar’ on April 16 featuring four female speakers — two professionals and two college-level students — representing various STEM fields:
● Eunice Biritwum, an electrical engineer with over two decades of experience in the power sector in both Ghana and the U.S.
● Kira Rosi-Schumacher, who has an academic background in engineering physics and has been supporting international development projects, with a special focus on…
Power Africa
A U.S. Government-led partnership that seeks to add 30,000 MW and 60 million electricity connections in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 > https://bit.ly/2yPx3lJ
