News

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.

Launch of New Versions of the ECOWREX Flagship Products

The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) officially released new versions of the ECOWREX Interactive Data Portal, and the Map Viewer, both being flagship products on ECOWREX - an open data platform for managing and sharing renewable energy and energy efficiency information on ECOWAS Member States. Both versions are accessible online on the ECOWREX website.

Liberian Hydrological Services Open Database

Since 2011, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate is assisting the Liberian Hydrological Service in upgrading the Liberian hydrometric network. The project established 10 hydrometric stations in the principal river basins and it trained the LHS staff. After 30-years long break, the flows of Liberian rivers again are gauged and hydrological data are available to users. Continuous collection of hydrological data is particularly important for the ongoing and future hydropower studies and projects.