Analysing the potential to unlock Energy-Agriculture Synergieshttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GGE-EA-Webinar-1-Cover-Page-1.png69123456JamieJamiehttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6dd40c3d28dbada9c4d7e54c0368e5a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g
Webinar 1: Analysing the potential to unlock Energy-Agriculture synergies
On the 1st of July 2024 the African Climate Action Partnership (AfCAP) and the African association for Rural Electrification (CLUB-ER) under the Growing Government Engagement in Energy Access (GGE-EA) project launched a new webinar series. The three-part webinar series entitled Techno-Economic and Business Model Foundation on Productive use of Energy and Mini-grids in Africa will unpack how productive use of energy (PUE) can be utilised beyond its basic household needs to empower agricultural use and support business, the agribusiness sector, on a larger scale.
The webinar series kicked-off with the first webinar on “Analysing the potential to unlock Energy-Agriculture Synergies“. It began with an introduction to the GGEEA project, outlining the work being done in the renewable energy space. In addition, an overview of analytic approaches to assess the potential for renewable energy potential and agricultural value chains was given. The webinar drew on the tools and methodology of the Clean and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Landscapes (CTSL) project, as well as, analytic approach and tools delivered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). During the webinar we explored the geo-spatial modelling to map PUE potentials for agricultural development.
To view the recording of the webinar and presentations please use the links down below.
Following the webinar, NREL shared some examples of University Partnerships of demonstration farms. These are mostly focused on production and farming, but many are also starting to pilot electricity technologies for learning for educational purposes and research for the sector. NREL frequently collaborates with University partners to set up these types of projects.
Examples of University partnerships for demonstration farms shared by NREL:
Exploring models for public-private collaboration in clean energy accesshttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_6978-scaled.jpg25601707aflpaflphttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/464c5d1932d38a8c7908028ed233271b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
Exploring models for public-private collaboration in clean energy access
Steven Payma (RREA Liberia) kicking off the official AfCAP side session at Africa Climate Week 2023
The first part of the session focused on how the public sector is working towards increasing energy access in Africa , the acceleration of the deployment of mini-grids and the current challenges and opportunities that African countries face when it comes to electrifying rural areas using Kenya and Liberia as examples. The panel discussion kicked off with Steven Payma from the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency in Liberia (RREA). Payma explained that REA in Liberia has attracted their private sector to invest into the public by enabling policy and regulation environment partnerships in the public-private sector for clean energy access in Liberia. Payma, indicated that Liberia’s National Electrification Strategy targets are set to achieve universal access to energy by 2030. So far, 30% of Liberia’s population in urban areas have access to electricity and only 8% of rural areas have access to electricity. Payma explained that Liberia has both solicited and unsolicited projects running with the involvement of the private sector. He noted that it is key to involve the private sector to attract investment in order to increase energy access and create an enabling policy and regulatory environment. A key message coming out from his discussion was that the national energy utility needs to be unbundled and the sector needs to open up to independent power producers. Such public-private collaborations would support clean , universal energy access.
Eng. Maxwell Ngala (REREC, Kenya) during the AfCAP official side session at Africa Climate Week 2023
The second speaker was Eng. Maxwell Ngala from the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation of Kenya (REREC). Ngala was tasked with explaining the current challenges to electrifying rural areas in Kenya and what the opportunities are for mini-grids in aiding the achievement of this target. Ngala explained that REREC has a pilot project running in the area of Kenya, called Wajiha. This project has rolled-out 35 mini-grids through mission projects. Ngala indicated that the main challenges faced are technical, institutional and financial. When it comes to planning and the deployment of mini-grids, it’s important to understand the available technologies and to determine which are the most suitable for the context to meet the needs of the local community, Ngala explained.
Ieva Indriunaite (Camco) speaking during AfCAP’s official side session at Africa Climate Week 2023
The discussion shifted towards the private sector. This portion of the panel discussion focused on exploring options for improved collaboration, specifically on how the private sector can act as an implementing partner in realising governments’ NDC targets. Ieva Indriunaite from Camco kicked off this part of discussion by explaining the challenges Camco experienced in funding viable mini-grid projects.
Indriunaite explained that when it comes to the gaps in energy access and viability for climate finance the key challenge is limited access to funding which makes scaling a challenge for the continent. Indriunaite expressed that inorder to enable the large-scale deployment of mini-grids, it requires blended finance. Attracting private sector funding requires regulatory frameworks that are clear, transparent and implemented in a timely manner to de-risk financing. A key message from Indriunaite, is that governments should view mini-grid developers as partners, not as competitors. The private sector can mobilise solutions quickly and these solutions can be integrated into national grids and taken over by the public sector at a later stage.
The next speaker was Aaron Leopold from EnerGrow. Leopold shared some of his experiences of what enables effective collaboration with the public sector. He was in agreement with Indriunaite’s statement to not only involve the private sector in the later stages of the national plan for mini-grid deployment. Leopold explained there is a need for collaboration between the public and private sector at the start of the design process. He indicated that Energrow works to accelerate electrification by looking at the demand side. The organisation looks at how to improve energy demand in rural communities so that mini-grid companies can improve their tariff. A key takeaway message from Leopold was that there is a need to find creative ways to collaborate in the public-private partnerships to support mini-grids, for example, micro-financing and engaging with consumers to understand what they need in their localised contexts.
Aaron Leopold (EnerGrow) during the AfCAP official side session at Africa Climate Week 2023
Our last speaker for the panel discussion was Suleiman Babamanu from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Babamanu shared his insights on how the RMI aimed to support the transformation of energy systems in Africa and what steps they are taking to enable greater private sector investment. He noted that it is possible to enable greater private sector investment by linking energy access to economic development which remains a challenge for Nigeria. Babamanu explained that RMI does collaboration through understanding the context of the country. For example, Nigeria works on 2 main pillars; 1) Scaling and distributing energy resources, and 2) Deploying efficient demands for productive use. Babamanu indicated that the African Mini-grid Programme (AMP) aims to ensure that government and private developers are working together to create an enabling environment to ensure the transformation of energy systems and greater private sector investment through applying cost reduction techniques and innovative businesses.
Suleiman Babmanu (RMI) ending off the AfCAP official side session at Africa Climate Week 2023
In closing, the panellists had an opportunity to give their final reflections on how we can align the priorities of the public and private sector when it comes to energy access. Ngala shared his thoughts and expressed that it is important for the private and public sectors not to work in silos. Indriunaite explained that the private sector lacks accessibility to planning and national planning documents. She felt that it should not be seen as a competition between the private and public sector as both sectors have a common goal of providing energy access to all. Ngala, agreed with Indriunaite on the lack of access to information and data and stated that local data needs to be generated and accessible to both public and private users to enable planning for mini-grids in Africa.
WEBINAR: Assessing Opportunities for Agricultural Productive Uses of Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Development of a New Geospatial Mapping Toolhttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-26-at-10.30.25.png1334751aflpaflphttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/464c5d1932d38a8c7908028ed233271b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
On 25 March, the AfLP AMG-CoP in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) hosted a webinar on a new geospatial mapping tool. This webinar was the third in a series of regional learning events focused on analysis of opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy in minigrids. The first webinar focused on introducing the over all context of the project, and the second focused on techno-economic analysis of potential renewable energy microgrids.
This webinar presented the methodology used to estimate the geospatial distribution of prospective agricultural PUE loads, and introduced a new mapping tool developed by NREL to visualize PUE demand across Africa in order assist developers, planners, policymakers and others in understanding where and what PUE opportunities may be of highest priority.
Project Background and Objectives
Use of advanced energy technologies for agricultural production has multiple benefits including: 1) Intensifying production and reducing land-use pressure on related deforestation and biodiversity loss; 2) Strengthening agricultural income and employment in rural areas and allowing for more production near the home, which has particular value to women; 3) Enabling production of high nutrition and high value crops which tend to require more processing and irrigation supported by distributed renewable power; 4) Improving access to reliable energy sources to support irrigation and other productive uses such as cold storage or transportation of food; 5) Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air pollutant emissions and their resulting impacts on the community and environment; and 6) Beneficial use of food waste products for energy generation.
Within this context, the U.S. Department of State is supporting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to implement the Clean and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Landscapes (CTSL) Program in Africa and Southeast Asia. This program seeks to:
Increase access to advanced, clean, reliable, and affordable energy sources to improve agricultural productivity, food and water security, and enable resilience
Accelerate progress toward development and economic growth and stability goals
Increase in-country technical and analytical capacity to support transition to self-reliance
Over the last year this program has been providing technical assistance to three countries in Africa—Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique—to develop methodologies and approaches to assess opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy to help improve viability of clean energy minigrids. The CTSL is now excited to partner with the Africa LEDS Partnership to odder regional peer learning on this project and the methodologies being developed to a broader network of interested country stakeholders.
View presentations here. You can also watch a recording of the webinar via this link.
WEBINAR: Techno-Economic Analysis of PUE Minigrids in Africahttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-26-at-08.59.35-2.png1211685aflpaflphttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/464c5d1932d38a8c7908028ed233271b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
On 22 February, the AMG-CoP in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) hosted a webinar on Techno Economic Analysis of PUE Minigrids in Africa. This webinar was the second in a series of regional learning events focused on analysis of opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy in minigrids. This first session, held on December 14, 2021, introduced the overall context and background of the project and outlined the overall approach and methodology to estimate annual electric load profiles for key agricultural applications. This second session focused on techno-economic analysis of potential RE microgrids with PUE loads and associated levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) using the REopt microgrid optimization tool.
Project Background and Objectives
Use of advanced energy technologies for agricultural production has multiple benefits including: 1) Intensifying production and reducing land-use pressure on related deforestation and biodiversity loss; 2) Strengthening agricultural income and employment in rural areas and allowing for more production near the home, which has particular value to women; 3) Enabling production of high nutrition and high value crops which tend to require more processing and irrigation supported by distributed renewable power; 4) Improving access to reliable energy sources to support irrigation and other productive uses such as cold storage or transportation of food; 5) Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air pollutant emissions and their resulting impacts on the community and environment; and 6) Beneficial use of food waste products for energy generation.
Within this context, the U.S. Department of State is supporting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to implement the Clean and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Landscapes (CTSL) Program in Africa and Southeast Asia. This program seeks to:
Increase access to advanced, clean, reliable, and affordable energy sources to improve agricultural productivity, food and water security, and enable resilience
Accelerate progress toward development and economic growth and stability goals
Increase in-country technical and analytical capacity to support transition to self-reliance
For the last size months this program has been providing technical assistance to three countries in Africa—Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique—to develop methodologies and approaches to assess opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy to help improve viability of clean energy minigrids. The CTSL is now excited to partner with the Africa LEDS Partnership to odder regional peer learning on this project and the methodologies being developed to a broader network of interested country stakeholders.
Opportunities Abound for the Government of Malawi to Attract Investment in RE+Storage Projectshttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-1024x512-1.png1024512KMKMhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9ab479da6ffcefccdbafa8f9dc6d061b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
This blog post was written by Dr David Jacobs and Toby Couture, who supported the LEDS GP with this technical assistance.
The market for grid-scale battery storage technologies is booming worldwide with the growing awareness of the many benefits and services that batteries can provide.
Many government and utility officials around the world continue to think of battery storage simply as a form of storage that can be “filled up” and “drawn down” as needed in order to adjust to changing patterns of power demand. However, as experience with battery storage systems grows in markets ranging from California and South Australia to India and China, a more multi-faceted view of the role of grid-scale battery storage is emerging.
Battery storage systems can help make the outputs of solar and wind powerplants more predictable and reliable, whilst also providing a wide range of services to the grid, including frequency response, voltage control, and primary and secondary reserve (see figure below).
Moreover, battery storage can help reduce curtailment, providing benefits both to renewable energy (RE) producers, as well as to utilities (IRENA, 2019).
A flurry of recent auction results of solar+storage systems shows that the economics of combining renewable energy projects with storage (RE+storage) are now attractive in a growing number of countries around the world.
Recent auction results for RE+storage projects show unsubsidized prices for solar+storage in particular betweenUSD 4-8 cents/kWh, as seen in India’s recent auction for “round the clock” power supply (see Table below) (Gupta, 2021).
Jurisdiction (Year of entry-into-service)
Project Details
Price ($/kWh)
Contract length
India “Round-the-clock” auction(2021-22)
400MW firm capacity, including solar, wind, and storage
USD $0.04/kWh
25 years
Australia(2017; expanded in 2020)
Hornsdale Power Reserve: 315MW of wind power with 130MW/129MWh of battery storage
USD $0.055 – 0.066/kWh
10 years
Florida(late 2021)
Manatee Energy Storage Center: 409MW of solar PV + 900MWh of battery storage
N/A (utility-owned)
N/A (utility-owned)
Chile(2021 – 2023)
Engie Chile:1500MW of renewables with storage in time-differentiated blocks with solar+storage:
USD $0.024/kWh
40-year concession agreement
Portugal(2021-2022)
483MW of solar PV + storage
USD $0.04/kWh
15 years
Israel (2022)
168MW of solar PV + storage
USD $0.058/kWh
23 years
As the economics continue to improve, some jurisdictions with high and growing shares of variable RE, such as Hawaii, have even announced that all future procurements of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy will be combined with storage (Colthorpe, 2021). While this may not be feasible or necessary for jurisdictions like Malawi, it underscores the scale of the transformation that has taken place in the costs of RE+storage in recent years.
A recent analysis, prepared for the Government of Malawi as part of the support provided by the LEDS GP, provides an overview of the main uses for which the Government of Malawi can procure battery storage systems. The analysis focuses on five main functions, or use cases:
Reducing the curtailment of variable renewable energy (VRE) resources
Providing ancillary services
Deferring transmission and/or distribution grid investments
This analysis also highlights some of the key lessons in auction design from which countries like Malawi can draw in order to design and implement their own RE+storage auctions.
While auctions designed for battery storage share several features with regular RE auctions, there are certain aspects that need to be taken into consideration, including establishing clarity over what exactly is being auctioned, what level of availability the RE+storage installations need to provide, and whether any locational or other restrictions apply.
This brief report is intended to help governments like Malawi procure RE+storage projects in the coming years to help meet their overall energy access and climate-related objectives. This way, even relatively small countries with limited grid interconnections with their neighbouring countries can move towards high shares of renewables, thus paving the way for faster and more secure decarbonization of the electricity system in the coming decades.
WEBINAR: Assessing Agricultural Productive Uses of Energy for African Minigrids: Clean and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Landscapes Regional Learninghttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-22-at-12.43.52.png27621324KMKMhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9ab479da6ffcefccdbafa8f9dc6d061b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
On 14 December, the AMG-CoP in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) hosted a webinar on Assessing Agricultural Productive Uses of Energy for African Minigrids. This was first in a series of regional learning events focused on analysis of opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy in mini-grids. The objective of this first session was to introduce the overall context and background of the project, outline the overall approach and methodology, and share some of the initial analysis methodologies that have been developed, including geospatial analysis approaches and estimation of monthly and annual electric load profiles for key agricultural applications.
Project Background and Objectives
Use of advanced energy technologies for agricultural production has multiple benefits including: 1) Intensifying production and reducing land-use pressure on related deforestation and biodiversity loss; 2) Strengthening agricultural income and employment in rural areas and allowing for more production near the home, which has particular value to women; 3) Enabling production of high nutrition and high value crops which tend to require more processing and irrigation supported by distributed renewable power; 4) Improving access to reliable energy sources to support irrigation and other productive uses such as cold storage or transportation of food; 5) Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air pollutant emissions and their resulting impacts on the community and environment; and 6) Beneficial use of food waste products for energy generation.
Within this context, the U.S. Department of State is supporting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to implement the Clean and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Landscapes (CTSL) Program in Africa and Southeast Asia. This program seeks to:
Increase access to advanced, clean, reliable, and affordable energy sources to improve agricultural productivity, food and water security, and enable resilience
Accelerate progress toward development and economic growth and stability goals
Increase in-country technical and analytical capacity to support transition to self-reliance
For the last six months this program has been providing technical assistance to three countries in Africa—Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique—to develop methodologies and approaches to assess opportunities for agricultural productive uses of energy to help improve viability of clean energy minigrids. The CTSL is now excited to partner with the Africa LEDS Partnership to odder regional peer learning on this project and the methodologies being developed to a broader network of interested country stakeholders.
View presentations here. You can also watch a recording of the webinar via this link.
Clean Cooking Solutions: Access, Approaches and Barriershttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/md-duran-ymlCmg1WHS4-unsplash.jpg700467KMKMhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9ab479da6ffcefccdbafa8f9dc6d061b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
The event, organised by the Africa LEDS Partnership, the GIZ Support Project for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement, and the EnDev/GCF project, brought together experts, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss emerging trends in clean cooking solutions and technologies. The presentation aimed to help participants gain a general insight into clean cooking and three different technologies: bioethanol, e-cooking and biomass-based cooking. The presenters also discussed the key barriers impeding the market and the uptake of clean cooking technologies.
New Policy Guidebook: Advancing Markets for Interconnected Renewable Energy Mini-Gridshttps://africanclimateactionpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screenshot-2021-09-30-at-13.57.41.png820616KMKMhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9ab479da6ffcefccdbafa8f9dc6d061b?s=96&d=mm&r=g
Renewable energy-based interconnected mini-grids (IMGs) are a technical solution that has the potential to directly contribute to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. IMGs can also play a key role in facilitating a “green recovery” during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic.
This guidebook, by authors Uni Lee, Alexander Ochs & Maria van Veldhuizen, summarises a broad range of policy and financial instruments that governments can implement to foster the development of the IMG market, driven by the private sector. They have been divided into five categories: broad strategy and target-setting, policy and regulation, administrative processes, financial instruments, and other supportive measures.
