New study assesses ways to scale up off-grid solar across Africa

A new study assessing the commercial and economic feasibility of enhancing off-grid solar inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa indicates that solar home systems (SHS) could offer the most cost-effective solution for providing electricity access for most unserved segments in the region. Commissioned by the European Investment Bank and the International Solar Alliance, the study confirms that 120-million households across Africa lack access to reliable and affordable energy and that 60-million households are expected to remain without electricity by 2030.
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Grid could be under pressure with succession of cold fronts, Eskom warns

Following a warning from the South African Weather Service that a succession of cold fronts is expected to sweep across the country this week and going into the weekend, State-owned Eskom is appealing to the public to reduce electricity use as the cold conditions “will put severe pressure on the power system”. The system is currently performing relatively well and Eskom is not expecting to implement load-shedding at this point, it states.
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Carbon emissions to reach record levels in 2023 as stimulus spending fails to match net-zero …

The financial resources allocated by governments globally to clean-energy measures in response to the Covid-19 crisis currently represents only 2% of the $16-trillion in total fiscal support set aside for economic stimulus, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) new Sustainable Recovery Tracker shows. The $380-billion announced to support clean-energy actions as of the end of the second quarter of 2021 is set to be supplemented by an additional $350-billion a year between 2021 and 2023.
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Ethiopia says second filling of giant dam on Blue Nile complete

Ethiopia has completed filling the reservoir of its huge dam on the Blue Nile river for a second year and the plant may start generating power in the next few months, a minister said on Monday, a move that has already angered Egypt and Sudan. Addis Ababa says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a $4-billion hydropower project, is crucial to its economic development and to provide power.
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