Northern Africa

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has published a dataset with 10,905 sites for PV deployment across Africa, with an estimated total capacity of 4.9 TW.

Developer ReNew Power has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Government to establish a green hydrogen plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The $8 billion project will produce 220,000 tons of green hydrogen per year.

The nation maintained the highest score of 62.7 for solar in the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s renewables attractiveness index. It ranked third for overall renewable energy investment. 

The Indian multinational player, which has a solar engineering, procurement and construction portfolio of more than 10.6 GWp globally, says the latest addition will be among Egypt’s largest PV projects.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

A solar array – complete with battery storage and remote monitoring and control capabilities – has been transforming brackish groundwater into fresh drinking water in the village of Beyo Gulan in the Somaliland desert since 2018. The installation was developed by Germany’s Phaesun. Its unique combination of low-maintenance electrodialysis desalination with PV saw it pick up an Outstanding Projects award from The smarter E. Phaesun’s Géraldine Quelle and Florian Martini say they are honored by the plaudits, and are readying the system for series production.

Larsen & Toubro has secured EPC orders totaling 500 MW grid-connected solar capacity, in addition to significant contracts in India and overseas for power transmission and distribution.

The Climate Investment Platform launched by three multilateral bodies in September is now open for business and renewables companies in developing nations across 14 regions including south Asia could qualify for help with clean energy facilities, renewables-related grid improvements and energy efficiency schemes.

Industry body Gogla and the World Bank’s Lighting Global program said the last six months set a record for off-grid solar deployment. Solar home systems and other small off-grid appliances are being used in ever larger numbers.

The University of Birmingham is a research partner on the Solar Cooling Initiative of International Solar Alliance that aims to spread the use of solar and solar-hybrid energy in agriculture.