EDP Invests €12m in Decentralized Power Generation in Developing World
theportugalnews / 04-05-2018
Energias de Portugal (EDP) is to invest €12 million over the next three years in initiatives to install decentralized energy generation capacity, above all in East Africa, as part of a broader push to promote universal access to sustainable energy, the company said in a statement.
In the statement, EDP said that “the group's investment will be made in companies that already exist [and are] promising, with sustainable solutions for access to energy” and that it represents an opportunity for the group to become “a major operator in emerging markets” in the field.
As well as the €12-million investment – which is to be mainly in East Africa - the company is pledging to spend €1 million in social responsibility activities that it says "will impact 200,000 people, essentially in developing countries".
The investment forms part of the company's “new strategy defined for the area of access to energy (A2E) and in a context of the major potential market in developing countries."
The focus, it added, is on rural areas that are currently not linked up to national grids and that can be served by renewable generation.
The choice of East Africa is in part "because of greater political stability and regulatory framework" as well as solid economic growth, EDP said.
The push into A2E, which was initially under the aegis of the Fundação EDP, a not-for-profit offshoot of the company, is now “an activity close to the core business” of the group, now with “a team dedicated to the developing of new projects and investments in decentralized generation, distribution and marketing, involving the various geographies of the group."
A2E thus presents the company with “new opportunities of internationalization" in countries where a large part of the population are still off the grid.
Since 2009, according to the statement, the group has invested some €5 million in A2E projects, “directly impacting 20,000 people” in Kenya, Angola, Brazil, Guinea Bissau and Benin, and undertaken consultancy projects in Sao Tome and Principe, Myanmar, Peru, Mexico, Mozambique, East Timor and Venezuela.
Energias de Portugal (EDP) is to invest €12 million over the next three years in initiatives to install decentralized energy generation capacity, above all in East Africa, as part of a broader push to promote universal access to sustainable energy, the company said in a statement.
In the statement, EDP said that “the group's investment will be made in companies that already exist [and are] promising, with sustainable solutions for access to energy” and that it represents an opportunity for the group to become “a major operator in emerging markets” in the field.
As well as the €12-million investment – which is to be mainly in East Africa - the company is pledging to spend €1 million in social responsibility activities that it says "will impact 200,000 people, essentially in developing countries".
The investment forms part of the company's “new strategy defined for the area of access to energy (A2E) and in a context of the major potential market in developing countries."
The focus, it added, is on rural areas that are currently not linked up to national grids and that can be served by renewable generation.
The choice of East Africa is in part "because of greater political stability and regulatory framework" as well as solid economic growth, EDP said.
The push into A2E, which was initially under the aegis of the Fundação EDP, a not-for-profit offshoot of the company, is now “an activity close to the core business” of the group, now with “a team dedicated to the developing of new projects and investments in decentralized generation, distribution and marketing, involving the various geographies of the group."
A2E thus presents the company with “new opportunities of internationalization" in countries where a large part of the population are still off the grid.
Since 2009, according to the statement, the group has invested some €5 million in A2E projects, “directly impacting 20,000 people” in Kenya, Angola, Brazil, Guinea Bissau and Benin, and undertaken consultancy projects in Sao Tome and Principe, Myanmar, Peru, Mexico, Mozambique, East Timor and Venezuela.
