Ashden: October Update

Date: 05/10/2023

NextEnergy Foundation is working with Ashden to promote clean energy solutions in humanitarian settings through the Power to Refugees and Displaced People programme. The programme has three aims: (1) catalyse solutions; (2) grow impact by scaling established solutions; and, (3) shift policy. More information about each of these aims please visit the project page.

To scale established solutions (Aim 2), NextEnergy Foundation is providing funds to three growth-stage businesses through Ashden’s Scaling Fund; NEF is the sole funder of this phase of the programme. The enterprises will be supported to replicate and scale their work through grants of between £25,000-£50,000. NEF’s donation will also facilitate the participation of these three innovators at high-profile international gatherings to drive the energy access agenda, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP28.

All three businesses have now been selected and the funds have been transferred so that they can begin growing their impacts. The first two are based out of the Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. Kakuma Ventures is a solar-powered internet service provider and the winner of the 2022 Energising Refugees and Displaced People Award. Solar Freeze provides solar-powered cooling for food and medicine and is the winner of the 2021 Climate Solutions Award. The final enterprise is a female-owned and run community micro-grid in Yemen. The micro-grid has been operating for four years, with a generation capacity of 24 kVA, and is run by a group of Yemeni women, led by Iman Ghaleb Hadi Al-Hamli. It has approximately 50 residential customers and will expand access to businesses and households further away from the station with NEF’s support.