- Nuru Sasu, a Congolese electricity access provider, has been awarded $1.5 million to expand its operations.
- The company develops, finances and builds solar photovoltaic mini-grids.
E3 Capital (previously Energy Access Ventures), Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP), and Proparco, the French Development Agency’s private sector financing division, each contributed $1.5 million equally (AFD). Nuru initiated a series B fundraising effort to assist the expansion of its operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this investment is a part of that effort (DRC).
In this nation in central Africa, Nuru has set up the first-ever urban solar mini-grid in the city of Goma, which is a part of the North Kivu region. The company plans to build 13.7 MWp of installed capacity in the cities of Goma, Kindu in the province of Maniema, and Bunia in the province of Ituri by making its cash available to a group of foreign investors.
In addition to completing a larger project with a 35 MWp capacity, Nuru is also completing the electrification of the cities of Goma, Kindu, and Bunia. Proparco estimates that when these solar mini-grids are connected over the course of the next three years, 230,000 people and about 5,300 businesses and social and public institutions, the majority of which currently rely on diesel generators for their electricity supply, will have access to electricity for the first time.
Nuru demonstrates the effectiveness of small solar networks for DRC electricity generation in this way. In this Central African nation, more than 80% of the population still lacks access to power, according to the World Bank’s 2020 report. This solution, according to Power Africa, also helps to diversify the DRC’s electrical mix, which depends on dams for the generation of more than 98% of its electricity.
The Eranove group, AEE Power, and Gridworks have also received authorisation from Kinshasa to use solar mini-grids to electrify the towns of Bumba, Isiro, and Gemena.