Husk Power Systems invited governments in Sub-Saharan Africa to partner in scaling community solar minigrids and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7. Joining the United Nations LDC5 Private Sector Forum, Husk outlined a bold new framework for public-private partnership to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy minigrids in off-grid, weak-grid and under-the-grid communities.
Under the proposal, Husk plans to finance the building of 200 minigrids in one or more LDCs in Sub-Saharan Africa. This presents a new vision of scale for minigrids, and follows Husk’s UN Energy Compact signed in 2022, in which it committed to building 5,000 minigrids by 2030.
Lack of electricity impacts hundreds of millions of lives and countless small businesses in the 33 LDCs in Africa, with the electrification rate only at 36%. Husk estimates that 200 of its minigrids in one country would benefit up to 1 million people and 10,000 small businesses, power hundreds of schools and health clinics, and avoid 15,000 tons of CO2 annually by displacing diesel and gasoline generation.
For more information, see the full press release here.