Green energy transformation in Africa and Moldova

Founded in Kenya by a Congolese refugee, a company called Kakuma Ventures install solar panels and Wi-Fi hotspots under the slogan that green energy is the key to development. Kakuma Ventures has just taken part in the African climate summit organised in Kenya with the participation of several thousand delegates, heads of state and government. Kenya already meets 90% of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind and hydropower.

African nations below the Sahara have 60% of the world’s solar potential. At the same time, access to electricity remains a significant challenge for over half a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa, and power outages are also common for people connected to the grid. Therefore, residents increasingly choose to connect to mini-grids, i.e. photovoltaic systems serving a cluster of houses or companies, independent of the central systems. Currently, there are approximately 3,000 of them in Africa.

Moldova – one of the poorest countries in Europe – can transform into the first genuinely green country on the continent thanks to private investments and foreign aid. In 2022, over USD 1 billion in aid was allocated, mainly from the US and the EU. Moldova, utterly dependent on imported energy from fossil fuels, will find it easier to start from scratch and switch to green renewable energy sources. Total energy consumption per inhabitant there is approximately half of the European average.