REEEP sows energy future for developing world
REEEP provided €667,500 in seed funding for eight new finance projects to accelerate the clean energy market in these countries.
Microfinance facilities are a way to open up access to energy services for the rural poor. REEEP will work in Uganda to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) to establish small businesses selling biogas and to provide loans to 5,000 consumers who buy them.
A new REEEP project will expand activities to Uganda and Mozambique, aiming to attract between $10-60 million of funding to clean energy projects in those two countries during its first year.
Establishing microfinancing systems on the islands of Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa over the next 15 months is the aim of the PREM (Pacific Renewable Energy and Microfinance) project.
It kicks off with a baseline study on renewables and energy efficiency in these countries, and following this, a set of training tools will be created to assist MFIs in developing their own sustainable loan products.
In Brazil, REEEP will target the agricultural sector in a project combining international and local sources of financing for bio-digestors for agricultural waste available to small farmers, solar water pumps for irrigation, and solar dryers for fruits.