Access to energy and connected productive technologies reduces income inequality and promotes economic growth. It poses a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa.
80% of all agricultural enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa are smallholder farms. 175 million people work in this type of agriculture. More than 350 million people on the continent do not have access to an account at a bank or other financial institutions. Interest rates are too high for smallholder farmers. They cannot pay to use equipment like solar water pumps.
Connecting dispersed users to a national grid is costly. Decentralized renewable energy solutions are beneficial, but there are issues with large-scale investment, including inconsistent expectations on realistic returns on investment, high transaction costs for finance institutions or development organisations, isolated views by national governments and international organisations, and limited understanding of decentralized renewable energy.
Green People’s Energy for Africa offers measures for financial and knowledge support of end-users and private companies to help improve adoption of decentralized renewable energy systems and productive use of energy in off-grid rural communities.