Three renewable projects win $7m development prize

The winners: Albert Smith and Joachim Baumgaertner, AGES, (Sierra Leone); Rayan Kassis, Menatach (Nigeria) and Antoine Dubas, Stucky (Madagascar).

The winners are AGES PLC (25MW solar project in Sierra Leone), Mentach Energy (50MW wind project in Nigeria), and Stucky Ltd (25MW hydro and solar project in Madagascar). Collectively, the projects will deliver 100 megawatts of electricity to 340,000 homes.

A panel of expert judges selected the three winners based on commercial, technical and environmental merits, as well as the local regulatory environment, and capability of the project team.

Financial support mechanism

Access Power, a developer, owner and operator of renewable power projects in emerging markets, provides the access co-development facility (ACF) prize, which comprises a financial support mechanism for clean energy projects in Africa.

Reda El Chaar, executive chairman of the company says, “There is still a massive, urgent need for electrification in Africa and we firmly believe that renewable energy will be a significant part of the solution. This year’s competition introduced us to almost 100 projects, demonstrating the scale of entrepreneurship and ambition across the African continent to meet the electrification challenge.”

ACF 2016 saw unprecedented participation with a 75% increase in applications from the inaugural ACF 2015. Submissions came from 25 different African countries, a 40% annual uptake in the number of countries involved, with 95% of the projects submitted came from sub-Saharan Africa, a key growth area for Access Power.