News

Introduction Webinar to the ECOWREX Spatial Data Infrastructure on 10th August - in French

The ECOWREX Spatial Data Infrastructure is the section on the ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECOWREX) that contains spatial data and applications for sustainable energy planning and data sharing. Released in 2016 by ECREEE, the ECOWREX SDI offers ECOWREX users a platform to explore, visualize, extract, download and share geospatial information. This 60 minutes webinar will be conducted in French and will introduce the ECOWREX SDI and its contents to potential stakeholders in charge of energy planning in ECOWAS member states.

Inaugurated in Senegal the largest solar PV plant in West Africa

The Santhiou Mékhé solar PV plant in the community of Thies in Senegal was inagurated on 29th June 2017 being at the moment the largest solar PV plant in West Africa, with 30MW of installed capacity. After the inauguration of the Senergy 2 solar plant (20 MW) and the Malicounda PV plant (22 MW) in October and November 2016, this plant represents the third grid-connected PV plant commisioned in the ECOWAS member state in less than one year. With a cost of 41 millions of €, the plant is supposed to supply electricity to 200,000 households of the country and add a significant bit to guide Senegal to achieve 20% of electricity production through the use of renewable energies by end of 2017.

World Bank Interactive Applications to support energy planning and monitoring and evaluation

World Bank Applications to support energy planning and monitoring and evaluation

The World Bank recently released the ENERGYDATA.INFO platform with the aim of making open data and analytics on the energy sector increasingly available. Among different sections and datasets, the platform has a specific entry with interactive applications to support energy plannig, rural elecrification and monitoring and evaluation activities. Users have access to different tools, among which it could be highlighted under our special focus in West Africa: the Africa Electricity Grid Explorer, the Off-grid Market Opportunities application, the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy, the Global Tracking Framework application, Electrification Paths and Climatescope.

Introduction Webinar to the ECOWREX Spatial Data Infrastructure on 29th May

The ECOWREX Spatial Data Infrastructure is the section on the ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECOWREX) that contains spatial data and applications for sustainable energy planning and data sharing. Released recently by ECREEE, the ECOWREX SDI offers now ECOWREX users a platform to explore, visualize, extract, download and share geospatial information. This 60 minutes webinar will introduce the ECOWREX SDI and its contents to potential stakeholders in charge of energy planning in ECOWAS member states.

Seven PV mini-grid plants inaugurated in Burkina Faso

SIAD (Service International d’Appui au Développement) and partners inaugurated in March 2017 seven PV mini-grid plants in the rural communities of Guiba and Bindé in Burkina Faso. The inauguration of these renewable energy plants marked one significant achievement for a project which started in 2012 and it set an important step forward to increase the rural electrification in Burkina Faso.

UNIDO report on Renewable Energy-based mini-grids

Renewable energy-based mini-grids: The UNIDO experience

Despite the considerable potential for an accelerated use of renewable energy-based mini-grids, opportunities for income generation and social and environmental benefits, progress continues to be hampered by a number of key barriers and bottlenecks. Many countries still lack sufficient technical capacities to install, operate and maintain the systems, the regulatory framework to attract project developers, and access to financing to bring sufficient scale. UNIDO’s access to energy projects aim to address these issues, yet the evidence suggests that there is no unique business model that can easily and universally be replicated and scaled-up. This report takes stock of the current experience, and draws interim conclusions on the lessons learnt, and provides guiding recommendations for designing energy access projects.