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In Lesotho, about 47 percent of households have access to electricity, concentrated mainly in urban areas. The government has not achieved its goal of increasing the electrification rate to 75 percent of households by 2022. Lesotho has identified hydropower, wind generation, and solar power as potential renewable energy sources to help reach these targets and are proactively seeking development partners and investors to help it achieve this goal.
Currently, Lesotho generates 72 megawatts of hydropower through the ''Muela Hydropower plant, which does not satisfy domestic demand. The country will generate 80 MW following the construction of the Polihali Dam expected to be completed in 2028. There is potential, and there are plans, to expand hydropower capacity and establish wind farms. The majority of the population primarily lives in small, rural communities, which makes the country a good market for solar energy products. The government is interested in taking advantage of carbon credits; this may be a business opportunity for consulting companies in the renewable energy space.
Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (LEWA)
Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC)
Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA)
Website: Ministry of Energy and Metereology | Government Of Lesotho ()
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The cost of distribution significantly hinders the commercial viability of mini-grids. As a result, remote households struggle to connect to electricity systems in off-grid rural
The 11 planned off-grid networks will offer clean power to around 20,000 people for €0.28/kWh, according to one of the EU bodies which is backing the project.
The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated Lesotho had no grid-connected solar generation capacity at the end of 2020.
Graphic created by Max Hall, using content from freevectormaps , for pv magazine
A coalition of organizations has backed a plan to install 11 “solar-battery” mini-grids in Lesotho which will have a combined generation capacity of 1.8MW. An announcement of the project on the website of the EU''s EDFI Electrifi organization did not specify what battery storage capacity the mini-grids would have.
The mini-grids will be installed by the OnePower, U.S.-based non-profit out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and will reportedly supply power to 20,000 people and seven health centers via 7,300 new electricity connections. The panels will generate up to 3.48GWh of electricity annually, according to European finance development institution (EDFI) the Electrification Financing Initiative (Electrifi), and will generate 100 jobs during construction and six permanent roles.
The local power networks will offer clean electricity to customers for an “almost cost-reflective tariff” of LSL5/kWh (€0.28) after PowerOne received help with its business plan from EU investment body Get vest.
EDFI Electrifi, which said it contributed LSL75 million (€4.23 million) to the project in a mixture of a loan and investment in PowerOne stock, said the mini-grids would be mounted on solar trackers designed and built by an unspecified company in sub-Saharan Africa, and would also feature smart meters.
The EU-funded electrification body said the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) backed by the U.K. government and managed by London-based financial services company Camco Clean Energy had matched its equity and loan investment in a PowerOne project the former described as “Africa''s second largest project-financed mini-grid transaction.”
The EU body said the mini-grid project also received unspecified volumes of grant funding from the UN Capital Development Fund; UN Development Program; The U.S. Agency for International Development''s Power Africa fund; and U.K.-government backed UK Aid. The PowerOne portfolio also received an unspecified loan from New York impact investor the Open Road Alliance, according to EDFI Electrifi, plus legal support from Chicago-based Sidley Austin and Washington DC''s Covington & Burling, via the Thomson Reuters Foundation‘s TrustLaw program.
OnePower CEO Matthew Orosz also paid tribute to the assistance offered by Lesotho''s Ministry of Energy and Meteorology.
EDFI Electrifi said the funding it provided built upon an earlier €100,000 loan it gave PowerOne for a feasibility study to lay the groundwork for the mini-grid scheme and added, REPP lent LSL7 million (€395,000) to the company in 2019 to fund Lesotho''s first solar-battery mini-grid, which became operational last year in the village of Ha Makebe. The scale of that project was not specified.
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