Portugese renewable energy utility, Energias de Portugal SA (EDP), has announced that it will finance seven solar energy projects in five African countries through its A2E (Access to Energy) Fund. This is the third edition of the A2E Fund.
The clean energy projects will receive a total funding of half a million euros through the A2E Fund and around 30,000 people are set to benefit from the initiative.
Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Malawi are the African countries EDP has earmarked to fund solar energy projects.
The projects will range from refrigeration systems for fish, and fruit in local markets ,to the electrification of schools and health centers, or the supply of technologies that make it possible to desalinate water.
A total of 115 applications were processed for the funding during the third round of the A2E Fund. EDP intends to promote access to clean energy in remote and deprived regions, and thus helping to fight energy poverty in these territories.
As in previous editions, the A2E Fund invests in initiatives in five priority areas – education, health, agriculture, companies and community – and values assessment criteria such as social impact, partnerships, sustainability, potential for expansion and financial viability.
Some of the projects financed by EDP
Mozambique and Nigeria are the countries with the most projects in this edition, two each. In the first case, the projects to be funded are by the Luwire Wildlife Conservancy, which involves the creation of a solar system to power basic services for the local population and the irrigation of agricultural fields, and Viva con Agua by Sankt Pauli, which intends to give access to drinking water through desalination technology. In the case of Nigeria, both proposals involve refrigeration systems: Koolboks wants to install them in eight markets for fish sellers in the Lagos area and ColdHubs plans to create them to support a community of women farmers.
OffGridBox is the project that will be funded in Rwanda and aims to provide energy and clean water to six refugee camps. ADDP Angola wants to abandon diesel generators, replacing them with a renewable energy system to supply schools. Finally, the DAAP Malawi project is directly aimed at supplying a vocational school with electricity from a solar platform.
The A2E Fund thus continues the program started in 2018 that has already contributed a total of one million euros to 13 projects that have helped improve the lives of 65 thousand people and, indirectly, of about one million. Each of the projects in this new edition received between 25 thousand and 100 thousand euros, and it is estimated that its development can have a direct positive impact on the lives of 16 thousand people and also indirectly benefit more than 15 thousand people in these territories.
