The sustainable and scalable business models for minigrids conference organized by the African school of regulation (ASR) begins on Monday 23rd January . The three-day conference has over 200 participants from over 25 countries registered. The ASR is excited to host this multitude of experts and organizations passionate about Minigrids and increasing access to sustainable and affordable electricity in Africa. While we gear up towards this conference, we can use the conference concept note as an anchor to discuss the scalability and viable financial business models for mini-grids in Africa. Sustainable and financially viable business models are the pre-requisite for deployment of a large number of mini-grids required to achieve the goals of universal electricity access in Africa. The concept note by Prof. Ignacio J. Pérez-Arriaga highlights two fundamental conditions that are indispensable to attract the massive amounts of private capital needed to deploy all the minigrids that
Let me tell you a fun story about a school of regulation hosted at the European University institute which is located in Florence, Italy. The Florence School of regulation (FSR) has for several years provided capacity building for professionals in the energy sector, participated in policy formulation and standardisation of regulation within the energy sector. I was privileged to be part of the 2019 Open Africa Power fellowship which , together with Strathmore University in Nairobi was facilitated by the FSR and was an opportunity for young African professionals in the energy sector to obtain training, network and develop projects in an effort to provide solutions for energy poverty. What are some of the challenges that inhibit Africa from providing universal access to sustainable energy? Let us cover a few of these; · Lack of sustainable policies in the just transition for electricity access. · Insufficient capacity building for stakeholders in the energy space in