Powering Jobs
As part of the ongoing Powering Jobs Campaign, the global report for 2022 is complete, after gathering inputs from peer reviewers, and it is now in the design stage. Our research team has started finalizing the in-country draft reports for India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ethiopia and these will be ready by the end of July 2022 for peer review. The Partnerships and Communications team has applied to a curated set of key events in the sector for launching the global report in September 2022.
On July 22nd, 2022, the second Ethiopian steering committee meeting was held to arrive at a consensus on the thematic areas for advocacy in the country and to identify key launch platforms for the country report.
Do look out for our next newsletter for more details on the launch of the global report and the list of events that Power for All will be participating in as part of this campaign.
Powering Health
In Zambia, the Hon. Minister of Health Ms.Sylvia T. Masebo, unveiled an Action Plan for solarizing health centers in the country along with an open letter to funders to support the plan’s targets. This was at the Off-grid Solar Investment Forum organized by our in-country partners led by the Africa Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility (ACE TAF) on July 8, 2022.
Speaking during the event, Hon. Minister Masebo noted that the importance of access to reliable electricity in the delivery of essential health services cannot be over-emphasized. It directly impacts the well-being of women and children. She pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted the adverse effect of lack of electricity on health outcomes. It made it difficult to treat patients in need of ventilators and the lack of refrigeration constrained the administration of the much-needed vaccines.
“It is in this regard that the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Health and Power for All, in collaboration with other stakeholders, have developed this Action Plan which seeks to assist in making deliberate plans to electrify health facilities using off-grid systems. The collaboration further has an open letter that highlights the urgent action needed to invest in the electrification of the health facilities to improve the quality of services and outcomes,” said Masebo.
More details on this can be found on the Ministry of Energy's website here. You can find the press coverage in ESI Africa here and on Healthcare Africa here. This event was also well received by the health and energy stakeholders in Zambia and it was covered in numerous Zambian media houses like ZNBC TV, Muvi TV, Millennium TV, QTV, Daily Mail, Daily Nation, Radio Phoenix, HOT FM, Millennium Radio &ZNBC Radio.
In India, the Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) roadmap for the Health sector in Jharkhand has been prepared for the government of Jharkhand in partnership with our state partner, Center for Energy, Environment and Development (CEED), and the state nodal agency for renewable energy, Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA). This roadmap aims to set a path for solarising the health centers and health value chain in Jharkhand in the next 10 years. The roadmap is scheduled to be launched on August 17, 2022 in the presence of the State Health Minister, the state’s health and energy departments, health sector stakeholders, DRE developers and media partners. We also published an article highlighting the role of DRE as an enabler in empowering rural healthcare facilities in India at the Economist’s Future of Energy Week.
Utilities 2.0.
The Utilities 2.0 pilot in Uganda has now been operational for 12 months (launched on 28 June 2021). The pilot has proven that an integrated energy approach can accelerate energy access and increase demand stimulation resulting in a customer lifetime value of four times the Business As Usual approach. The U.2.0 pilot team is currently working on interconnection, which means connecting the mini-grid to the central grid. This pilot will be the first solar mini-grid to test the newly promulgated Electricity Isolated Grid Regulations, 2020 in Uganda. A Technical Working Group on Interconnection has been established and is chaired by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to support the project in achieving interconnection by the end of August 2022.
This month the team is focusing on installing and constructing the transformer and completing interconnection to the mini-grid. A community engagement plan is being developed as the Rural Electrification Programme. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Umeme Ltd and Equatorial Power have to be aligned on the messaging and able to engage the community to ensure that all stakeholders are committed to a smooth transition from the mini-grid generation plant to the central grid. This community engagement is also scheduled to be held in August 2022. Look out for more updates in our next newsletter.
India 25x25
As part of the Good Energies project, a photo documentation series is being executed in Jharkhand covering the four districts of Simdega, Ranchi, Khunti and Ramgarh. The objective of this trip is to document case studies of DRE solutions and to bring out national best practices highlighting the convergence of these projects in agricultural value chains, health value chains, and livelihood generation, with the help of local partners.
To further the use of DRE in the agriculture value chain, the second working action group meeting with the Solar Agro Saathi is scheduled in mid-August, where the project implementers from the ground in Jharkhand will share their experience and views on Productive Use of Energy (PUE) applications they are deploying. This meeting will be used to assess the impact of solar-based PUE solutions on marginalized farmers in the region.
Power for All as a partner to the state nodal agency of Jharkhand, assisted in the framing of the new Solar Policy for Jharkhand which was launched by the Honorable Chief Minister of Jharkhand Mr. Hemant Soren on 5th July. More details on this policy can be found here.
Powering Agriculture
The Powering Agriculture Campaign will launch the Action Plan for scaling Productive Use of Energy in Uganda’s agriculture sector on August 9, 2022, in Kampala. Expected participants include government officials, private sector companies in agriculture and energy, development partners, and civil society. The Action Plan recommends critical steps that the government and private sector should consider to scale the deployment of decentralized renewable energy solutions in the country’s agriculture sector.